


Inner Conflicts

by AnimalDisco



Category: Original Work
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Asexual Awareness Week, Asexual Character, Asexual Relationship, Asexuality, Depression, England (Country), F/M, Friendship, Gaming, Happy Ending, Living Together, Secrets, Slow Build, Verbal Abuse, Youtuber - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 14:36:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 45,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21163268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnimalDisco/pseuds/AnimalDisco
Summary: Ross feels broken. He just doesn't feel like he fits into society like he should. All his life relationships have failed as soon as his girlfriends want to start getting intimate. Ross feels like maybe he should just give up on ever having a relationship. But then this girl walks into his life. She feels familiar to him, but he doesn't know where from. Will Ross discover the secrets she is hiding, and will Ross ever feel like he can just belong?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello to anyone who has decided to look a bit closer at this story of mine. Thank you very much for making it this far! This is the first story I've written for quite a while, and the only one I've ever felt okay with uploading. I decided to upload it now because it's Asexual Awareness Week and I thought I would raise some awareness through writing a book. Anyway, I won't keep you any longer. I hope you enjoy reading this book!

The best thing about being a YouTuber, Ross thought to himself, was that you didn’t need to get up early. Sure, you could, if you wanted to, but Ross seldom wanted to do that. As he rolled out of bed at 12pm, he tried to flatten his ruffled black hair. It was no use though. It always stuck up in weird directions. 

Nevertheless, he tried his best anyways. As he turned to his mirror, he saw his deep blue eyes staring back at himself. The expression on his face always looked slightly surprised, but that was just the way it was. His hair wasn’t really long, but not military short either. It was just long enough to be a nuisance in the mornings. 

Ross’s room was not small, but not big either. It was cosy and dark just the way Ross liked it. It was up in the top of the house and only had one small window. Under the window was a desk, that Ross tried to use for his laptop, but mainly the desk just gathered junk. A wardrobe was placed next to the desk which didn’t really have clothes neatly put inside them. It looked more like a bomb had hit it. On the opposite side of the room, there was a double bed. The space in the room didn’t allow it to be a king-size, so Ross had settled for a queen-sized bed. 

Since Ross was busy trying to fix his hair in the mirror, he didn’t notice that his door was creaking open slowly. Creeping into Ross’ room silently were his friends, James and Henry. 

Ross had been friends with the two of them for years. The three of them had met at upper secondary school. James wasn’t his first name. His first name was Alex, but everyone just called him James, since that was his surname. He was tall, even managing to be taller than Ross who was 190cm by about 7cm. He had a scruffy mop of ginger curls upon his head, a rather pointy nose, and a clothing style that consisted of T-shirts with different logos on them and jeans. The clothing style was just so typically James that it felt unnatural if he wore anything else. 

Henry, on the other hand, was about a normal height for a healthy twenty-year-old, but he looked short compared to James and Ross. He had spiky blonde hair that always gave the impression that he had just gotten out of bed. Unlike Ross, he never even tried to make it look respectable. He was slightly pudgier than Ross, but not quite fat. Then again, most people looked pudgy next to Ross since Ross was as thin as a rake. Henry never thought much about it. If anything, he joked about his appearance with the people that surrounded him. Henry, unlike James, wore glasses on his nose. Henry had really poor sight without them. 

Sometimes, if Ross had suffered through a really bad practical joke at the hands of his friends, he would hide the glasses somewhere in the house and Henry would have to find them with only James to help him. Often the glasses would never be found. If that happened, the glasses would reappear on Henry’s bedside table when he woke up. 

This time as their practical joke, James and Henry were carrying a large bucket of flour with them. As they crept closer to Ross, they failed to notice that their victim was looking in a mirror and could see the two of them approaching from behind him. 

Just as Ross spun around to face his friends, James and Henry chucked the bucket of flour on Ross. It cascaded all over him, including everything that was behind him, seeping into the carpeted floor that was in Ross’ room. 

Ross shut his eyes tightly to stop the flour from getting at them. He could feel the flour shift off of him and down to the floor below. 

When Ross opened his eyes again, they looked indifferent. His friends knew what this meant. Even though it looked like Ross was going to let it slide, it was far from the truth. 

Henry tried to laugh it off awkwardly. “Hey, mate. Thought you might just want some help to style your hair.” 

Ross didn’t say anything. He just stared unwaveringly at the two people in front of him. His friends took the hint and silently stepped out of the room, leaving Ross alone in his now purely white room. 

Once they were gone and the door to his room was shut, Ross made his way over to his bed and picked up one of the towels he had thrown there a while back, preparing to go and take a shower. Ross couldn’t remember when he had thrown it there, but it was a while ago. Things just sort of seemed to pile up on his bed. 

After Ross had picked the towel up, he looked at all the flour that had spread itself throughout the room. Sighing to himself, he went to the bathroom that was opposite his bedroom. 

Ross’ room was up on the second floor of the house, along with his friends’ bedrooms and the shower room. On the lower part of the house was a large living room, the kitchen, and a spare bedroom that was there if they had anyone staying over. Normally it was used to store things like their recording equipment when it wasn’t in use. The three of them had thought about using it as a recording room, but had decided against it, since it was so rare that room was ever in a state where they could use it as such. 

Ross quickly jumped into the shower, trying his best to rinse all of the flour off of his body. It wasn’t the easiest of tasks, since the flour managed to get almost everywhere on him. After doing his best to get the flour of off his body, Ross got out of the shower and went downstairs to retrieve the vacuum cleaner. 

Opening the door to their cleaning cupboard, Ross took out the vacuum cleaner and made his way back up the stairs. He didn’t see James or Henry whilst he was downstairs. They were probably trying to stay as far away from him as possible right now to let him cool off for a bit. Very wise of them. 

Ross made his way back up the stairs again with the required items in hand before entering his room once more. 

James and Henry often played practical jokes on Ross; the bucket of flour being one of their favourites. 

Because of this, Ross had learned a few tricks for how to get rid of flour out of his carpeted floor from the years of living with the two tricksters. 

When his friends first started to chuck buckets of flour on his head, Ross had tried to just vacuum it like he would normally vacuum a floor. It hadn’t ended so well. The following days Ross had been walking around with flour stuck to his feet for a long time. He had made sure to trudge the flour into their rooms a lot when this happened. Funnily enough the two troublemakers still liked to throw flour on Ross’ head. 

Ross had learned then that it you vacuumed a carpet with flour on it that the flour would normally just stay in it, but if you made sure to only use the hose part of the vacuum cleaner, it would come out much easier. Since that discovery, his life had been made a lot easier. 

After Ross had wiped down all of the surfaces and vacuumed the carpet, he made his way downstairs to get some breakfast. Well, technically lunch now. 

Ross noticed as he walked into the kitchen that Henry’s glasses were still on the table. He’d probably taken them off so that he wouldn’t get flour all over them and then hadn’t dared come down to retrieve them after pouring flour on top of Ross, in case Ross would be downstairs. Quickly Ross pocketed them, trying to think up a good place to hide them later. 

When Ross looked into the fridge, all that was there to eat was some leftover pizza. He sighed to himself, noting that later that day the three of them would have to go out shopping for more food. 

Ross took the pizza from the fridge and ran upstairs to his room, not even bothering to heat up the pizza first. Before Ross entered his room, Ross made a quick detour into the bathroom, hiding the glasses inside of the shower, behind their shower gel. 

When Ross had almost eaten up all of the food, he could hear footsteps bounding up towards his room. The door was flung open and, in its place, stood Henry. 

“Oi mate, do you know-“ Henry cut himself short when he saw the last remains of the pizza hanging out of his friend’s mouth. 

“Ah,” Henry said as a noncommittal response. 

Ross swallowed before replying to his friend. “Consider this your punishment for earlier today.” 

Ross continued to eat his meal, not paying attention to Henry as his friend left the room. 

When Ross was finished, he took the plate downstairs to put in the sink for someone to clean later. However, to his dismay, he found that the sink was already overflowing with stuff that needed cleaning. 

Ross contemplated either cleaning all of the dishes or just placing his plate on the floor near the sink with a few other things. In the end he just placed his plate on the floor near the sink. 

Ross trudged back up the stairs to his room to get dressed. He decided if he went to the shops, he could make someone else do the dishes instead of him doing it. 

He quickly threw some clothes on before running down the stairs again. Before he left, he made a stop at Henry’s room. He opened the door and found to his luck that James was also in there. 

“Guys, I’m gonna head out and get some shopping. The washing up really needs doing now, so could you two do that whilst I’m out? Cheers, thanks, bye.” Ross didn’t even give his friends a chance to argue against his words before he had grabbed his keys and was out of the door. 

*** 

When in the shops, Ross decided to mainly get the necessities; crisps, sweets and fizzy drinks. Ross also got some tea because without it the house would feel too wrong. A few vegetables and some meat fell into the basket as well. 

After Ross had paid for the items and had walked home, he went to the fridge to unpack the groceries. When he entered the kitchen, he noticed that the sink was still overflowing with the washing up. 

Ross gave a deep sigh, knowing that if he wanted the job done, he would have to do it himself. 

After unpacking all of the things he had bought, Ross started on the major job that was the dishes. 

Henry and James entered the kitchen when Ross was almost done with the washing. Ross turned around to look at them. They gave him a practiced look of innocent surprise which Ross knew was faked. 

“Oh man. We didn’t know when you were coming home. If we had known, we would have done them. Sorry mate. Is there anything else we can do for you?” Henry said to Ross when he and his twin entered the room. Ross knew that they wouldn’t do anything even if he asked for their help. They were just like that. Ross didn’t mind taking responsibility; even though it wasn’t fun. That was one of the reasons that the three of them got along as well as they did. 

For example, Ross didn’t mind being the parent of the house, Henry didn’t mind doing all of the editing of their videos, and James didn’t mind doing all of the cooking; even if they tended to order pizza. Ross tried to keep up the act of being bothered by this though, so that they wouldn’t fall into a lull. 

“I guess you guys will have to make it up to me. Maybe James can cook something, and you Henry can help with setting things up for recording,” Ross said as he dried off the last of the dishes. 

James nodded his affirmative that he would cook for the three of them later in the evening. James never really spoke much. He did sometimes, but it was normally Henry that did the speaking when the two of them were in the same room. 

“I’m gonna go off and set the stuff up for our recording, then,” Henry announced as he walked off to the living room which also doubled up as a recording studio in the evenings. They kept most of the equipment in the cupboard under the staircase out of sight so it wouldn’t look too messy if visitors were to come over. 

Since Ross didn’t have much to do at the time, he decided to go upstairs and have a look at the YouTube comments on their videos. There were of course the obvious trolls commenting on their videos, but then there were the people who actually enjoyed discussing their content. He read these comments when he was bored to waste time. It was nice seeing how far they had come in their career; how many people liked to watch the things they made. It made Ross smile. 

The thumping on the stairs signalled the return of his friends. Ross turned to look at the door before it was flung open by Henry. 

“It’s time to do some recording, guys!” Henry slammed the door as he left and bounded down the stairs to finish setting up his equipment. 

Ross begrudgingly got out his chair and slowly moved towards the door to meet up with his friends on the downstairs floor. 

Today they were going to record some of their new series; Trials Evolution. It wasn’t a game that Ross was particularly good at, but he enjoyed it nevertheless. Henry completely dominated the game, although that was partially because Henry had practiced before. 

After they’d said their goodbyes to the audience, they finished the recording. Now it was time for James and Henry to take over their jobs. James started cooking, and Henry jumped right into the editing. 

Ross glanced at a clock again for the first time since he woke up. It was almost 8pm already. “How long until dinner?” Ross asked James. 

“Uhh, about 30 minutes is my guess. Gonna keep it a bit simple today.” 

“Right, I’ll just take the bins out in the meantime,” Ross told his friends. They both gave a nod confirming that they’d heard him. Grabbing the bins, Ross left the house and headed to the big collection bin they had nearby. 

As Ross opened the bin, he caught sight of a young woman that he felt he recognized. The woman caught sight of him too and smiled and waved. Ross waved back, but couldn’t quite muster a smile as he was still trying to place her. 

After the wave, the woman continued walking down the street, paying no more attention to Ross. Ross finished throwing away the bins, and then went back inside. He then brought up his phone and logged onto his Facebook to see if he could spot the familiar face in his friends list. It was a rather short list; mainly because since he started gaining popularity, he would get a lot of annoying messages from people he didn’t know. That’s why every time someone had sent him an annoying message, he would remove that person from his friends’ list. He just wanted some privacy and personal space. 

Looking through his list he found no one that resembled the woman he’d just seen. Not giving it anymore thought, he looked up from his phone to see that food was done. James was just lifting a frying pan onto the dining table that had somehow been cleared without him realizing. 

“Food’s done,” James said as he lifted a final pot onto the table. The table was laid and Henry had put away all of their equipment and was sitting by his regular seat at the table. Ross took his seat and started to take some food. James had made a spaghetti Bolognese. This was one of Ross’ favourite dishes, and he was thankful that James had made it today. 

“Cheers, mate,” Ross said as he tucked into his portion of the food. 

They ate in silence after that. They had all had a rather long day of recording. Ross knew that Henry would most likely be awake half the night doing more of the editing, so his day was far from over. After their meal was eaten, Ross felt too tired to deal with the dishes. “I’ll do them tomorrow,” he told himself, knowing full well it was a lie and that that’s how mound dishes had come to be in the first place. Oh well, he’ll deal with that problem when it arises. 

“Thanks for the meal,” Ross said as he placed his plate in the sink, sealing the dishes’ fate. 

After that, he went up to him room. He sat there for a while, thinking to himself. He was in his early 20’s now, but still hadn’t gotten laid. He kept thinking that something must be wrong with him since he still hadn’t done it, but every time he had gotten close to a girl, he just hadn’t felt like he wanted it. The thought of touching a girl, or anyone for that matter, in such a way just disgusted him. Maybe he should go to a doctor? Perhaps there was something physically wrong with him that was causing him to feel this way. 

These thoughts kept swirling through his mind. They were only interrupted when he heard a faint knock on his door. He knew who it was who was there before the door even opened, because the person knocking was the only one of the two of his friends that would knock. 

“Enter,” Said Ross, to see James slowly open the door. “You alright, mate? I thought you might like to get up to something just the two of us whilst Henry’s editing.” 

“I appreciate the offer, but I don’t think I really feel up to anything right now.” Ross knew that he had been blowing James off a fair bit recently, but he just couldn’t find the energy as of late to go out. There were too many thoughts flying around. He did really appreciate James’s offer though. 

“Alright. If you change your mind, you know where to find me,” James said as he closed Ross’ door. They both knew though that Ross wouldn’t change his mind. 

As the time passed, Ross grew physically tired, but his mind wouldn’t let him rest. There were too many thoughts flying through his head; “You’re so worthless. You can’t be a proper adult until you bed a woman. You can’t even manage to do such simple adult things. What will your friends think of you? What’s the point of you even trying to have a relationship if you can’t do such a basic thing?”


	2. Chapter 2

Ross woke up with a start. The dreams he had been having were not the nicest of dreams. He’d dreamt he’d told James and Henry about how he had been feeling. About how he couldn’t even have a woman in front of him being naked without feeling disgusted. They had just started laughing at him and started making fun of him. 

“What a loser. A man that’s scared of a little minge isn’t a proper man at all,” his phone was starting to blow up. When he looked at it, everyone he knew was laughing at his expense, calling him things like a lonely wanker and that he would never be able to satisfy another person in any relationship. He'd tried to run away from it all, but no matter how far he ran, his ‘friends’ seemed to always be next to him. 

A door appeared in front of him. Ross threw it open and then shut it behind him as quickly as possible. Leaning his forehead against the door, Ross tried desperately to catch his breath. 

“Ross,” A breathy voice said from behind him. Stiffening at the familiar voice he hadn’t heard for so long, Ross slowly turned around. Ross’ ex-girlfriend, Jenny, stood there next to Ross’ old bed at his parents’ place. She was only wearing a towel. Ross was terrified of what would happen next, knowing what she was about to do, since it had actually happened to him in real life. 

The towel fell away from Jenny’s body, revealing her naked form in front of him. Ross tried to shut his eyes, to close her out, but somehow, he could still just see her in front of him. 

“Come here, Ross. I want you to touch me,” Jenny said, pushing her tits together. 

Ross shook his head decidedly. “No, I don’t want to.” 

Frustratedly, Jenny grabbed Ross’ arm and pulled him closer, putting Ross’ hand on her tits. 

“Make me feel good,” Jenny said in a moan. 

Ross quickly jerked himself away, falling straight onto the bed. Anger spread across Jenny’s face at Ross’ reaction. Raising her hand, Jenny struck Ross hard across the face. Grabbing the towel and her clothes, Jenny stomped towards the door. With her hand on the handle, she turned around to face Ross one last time. 

“You know, I should have known this would happen. You probably just can’t get it up or something. That must be why you never made a move. You're such a freak. I hope you’re happy being alone for the rest of your life.” Jenny slammed the door behind her. 

Laying down in the bed, Ross turned his face into the pillow, letting the tears soak into the material. Ross knew she was probably right, but just didn’t want to admit it. At least it was over now. The bad memory of his ex-relationship. 

The door creaking confused Ross. This hadn’t happened in reality. In real life after Jenny had stormed out of the room, he’d laid there crying for the rest of the night alone. Turning his face to the side, Ross saw his parents standing there. 

“Mum, dad,” Ross said, teary-eyed. 

“Ross,” they said warmly at first. Suddenly their faces turned dark with anger. “What the hell are you doing? Don't scare away someone like that! How are you supposed to give us grandchildren now?” 

Ross sat up in the bed, scooting as far back as he could, until his back hit the wall, and then pulling his knees up to his chest. 

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no,” Ross said continuously, shaking his head. “This didn’t happen. You’re not supposed to be here now. Leave me alone!” 

Ross’ parents stepped into the room, their dark figures looming ever closer. “You can never be our son the way you are now. We should never have had you. You’re so defective.” 

It was at that point he woke up. Breathing heavily and sweating profusely, Ross looked at his phone, just to make sure it hadn’t happened in reality. It hadn’t. 

‘Thank goodness,’ Ross thought to himself. He checked the time. It was 3PM. That was a lot later than usual. He dragged himself out of bed, not feeling at all rested after the night he had just had, but he knew that he needed to get up and try and do something during the day. Dwelling on his dreams that he’d had would not do him any good. 

Ross quickly flung some clothes on and then went down the stairs to see his friends. When he went into the kitchen, he could see the two of them munching on some light snacks that James had prepared whilst Henry had been busy editing. 

“Finally up, mate?” Henry said with a mouth full of James’s homemade toasted sandwiches. His eyes didn’t leave the screen. When Ross looked towards James, he noticed that James was also doing some editing with Henry. 

“Wanna help out with some of the work?” James asked Ross, as he handed Ross a plate with a couple of sandwiches on it. 

“Sure,” Ross replied, making his way over to his computer to start helping out. 

“Have you heard anything more about the collab we were planning on doing?” Henry asked Ross as Ross opened his computer. 

“No, not yet. Craig said he would call us by the end of the week,” Ross replied. 

Craig was both a personal friend of the trio, and also helped them out with all the PR. They had met Craig when they had just started out their YouTube career. Craig had been one of the first members of their community. Nowadays they wouldn’t ask fans to help them out with tasks such as this, but they hadn’t really thought about it when they just started out. 

Craig was really good with the PR tasks, and had helped them land things such as filming trailers for games, and going to different conventions. 

Since it was only Thursday, the three gave it no more thought and went back to what they were doing. 

Editing took a while, but it was worth it. They had now finished the first two episodes of the bulk they had filmed so that they could start putting out some new videos on their channel. That should last them about a week since they only released videos on Tuesdays and . 

Looking out of the window, the guys couldn’t see anything due to the darkness outside. “Should we get some pizza today?” Henry asked. The other two agreed. It was getting late and they were getting hungry after only having a couple of sandwiches for the whole day. 

They shut down their computers and got ready to go out. They decided to go to their local pizzeria. It was the one they knew best, and the one they also liked the best. 

When they got to the pizzeria, the three of them started to peruse the menu, even though they all knew that they would be ordering the same thing that they normally order. Whilst doing this, Ross caught sight of the woman he had seen yesterday. She was sitting at one of the tables eating a simple cheese and ham pizza. The woman looked up from her meal and saw Ross looking at her. She smiled and waved at him like she had done the day before. Ross waved back and gave a small smile. 

When the woman went back to her meal, Ross’ gaze did not leave her. He could not shake the feeling that the two of them knew each other. Mustering up the courage, Ross went over to her. 

“Hi, um, sorry to disturb you, but do we know each other?” 

The woman looked up at him, her blue eyes catching his of the same colour. Ross could have sworn that for the first split second there was a sad look on her face. That quickly disappeared though, to be replaced with a polite smile. 

“Not really. We’ve seen each other in passing, that’s about it. We do live in the same area, so you’ve probably just seen me on the street before,” She said with a slight accent that Ross wasn’t sure where it was from. Possibly Scandinavian. 

“Wait, how do you know where I live?” Ross asked. He knew he sounded paranoid, but after having strange people come over to his house before, he needed to take precautions. 

“I walked past you taking the bins out yesterday, remember?” She replied, a small laugh audible in her reply. Ross felt his face go slightly red at the memory. It made sense that she would know where he lives after seeing him taking the bins out. 

“Right, yeah, ‘course,” Ross said, stumbling over his words. 

The smile on her face grew slightly wider, before she managed to hide it again. She stretched her hand out to Ross, offering to shake hands. “My name’s Ellie,” She said. 

“Ross,” Ross answered, accepting her hand shake. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Ross,” Ellie answered. 

“Likewise,” Ross replied. 

“Oi, Ross, did you want anything?” Henry asked, interrupting Ross and Ellie. 

“Yeah, I’m coming,” Ross answered. Ellie just smiled at him. Ross smiled back at her, and properly for the first time, before re-joining his friends and ordering his meal. A nice salami pizza as per usual sounded good to him. After ordering, they left the pizzeria, with Ross and Ellie exchanging one final wave. As Ross left the pizzeria, he felt like seeing each other on the streets wasn’t the only sort of place he recognized her from. He couldn’t help but feel like there was more to it. 

Henry, being the nosy person he was, couldn’t hold himself back from asking, “so, who was that then?” 

“Just some girl that I felt I recognized. I saw her on the street yesterday when I took the bins out,” Ross replied. 

“Well that’ll be where you recognize her from then,” Henry replied. Ross wasn’t convinced, and that showed on his face, which James noticed. James didn’t say anything though. 

The walk back to their house was rather silent. The three of them didn’t feel up to doing much talking after having spent hours on end just editing. Ross had caught sight of the way that James was looking at him and knew that James knew something wasn’t quite right. ‘Well, I guess there isn’t much use putting it off any longer. It'll have to come over sooner or later, and it looks like James is going to make sure that it comes out sooner rather than later.’ 

When they got home, the gang put on the telly, and ate their meal. After Henry was done eating, he sprung up from the sofa, almost startling Ross. “I’m gonna go upstairs and pack. I’m gonna go and meet Chelsea tomorrow, so I wanna be ready for that,” He announced to his friends. 

“Sure thing,” James replied to Henry. Henry didn’t wait for Ross’ answer before bounding up the stairs. It was probably a good idea that Henry didn’t wait since Ross didn’t have an answer to give. Henry mentioning Chelsea, his girlfriend had set off the thoughts from last night once again. It made him terrified of the talk that James was going to want to have with him. 

‘Maybe I can lead the talk somewhere else and not have to talk about that specific thing?’ Ross thought to himself. Ross dismissed that idea. ‘If the topic comes up, I’ll just let it happen, but I definitely won’t bring it up on its own.’ But Ross knew that deep down inside, he really did want to tell his friend about how he felt, so he could at least have one person to confide in. 

Henry would not be emerging from his room again tonight. It was already 12AM, and Henry’s train went at 8AM. James and Ross were alone. They sat in silence for a bit to begin with. James was the first one to break the silence. 

“You alright, mate? It feels like something’s been bothering you.” 

“It’s just the girl from the pizzeria. I feel like I’ve met her before, but I can’t seem to place her. I know I’ve seen her on the street a couple of times, but I don’t think that’s all,” Ross told his friend, not wanting to jump straight into the problematic stuff. 

“She does seem familiar. I feel like I’ve seen her too,” James told Ross. Ross perked up a bit at this. If his friend felt the same way, then it can’t have just been his imagination. 

“Do you know where from?” Ross asked, hoping his friend might have some of the answers he was looking for. 

“Sorry, I can’t seem to place her either,” James said with an apologetic look on his face. Ross felt a bit dejected by this, but was quick to dismiss it. “It’s alright, it’s not your fault,” Ross replied. 

There was silence for a bit longer before James yet again broke it. 

“Is that all that’s bothering you?” 

Ross looked up at James, thinking about how to explain his other more pressing problem. Before he could even get the words out, his mind flashed back to the nightmare he’d had that night. 

‘What if this actually happened?’ he thought. ‘It’s not completely impossible. What if he won’t want to be your friend afterwards? A freak like you, it would be completely understandable if he wouldn’t want to be your friend after knowing those things about you.’ 

Ross tried to hide the mixture of shock and horror on his face, but James had seen it, Ross knew. Ross turned his face to look the other way. ‘I can’t do this. I can’t tell him. I don’t want to make things difficult between us. I don’t want to lose him as my friend.’ 

“It’s nothing,” Ross lied. 

“Mate, come on, it can’t be that bad. You can talk to me. I’m your friend,” James said as he tried to coax his friend into talking to him. 

“Please just drop it,” Ross said, feeling his body start to tremble. He knew he wouldn’t be able to hold it in much longer. He was on the verge of letting the waterworks flow freely. 

“I can’t. I can’t stand to see my friend hurt like this,” Ross knew James wasn’t going to give up. “Something’s been wrong for a while now. Please tell me what it is. I want to be there for you.” 

“If I tell you though, you won’t want to be my friend anymore. I’m a freak, James. I’m not normal.” The tears were flowing freely now. There was no return. Not like James would have let him anyway. His friend truly cared for him, and wanted to make sure he was okay. 

“Tell me. I don’t care what it is, I want to be there for you and make sure you’re okay. You could never be a freak to me.” 

Tears were falling freely at this point and it took a couple of minutes for him to compose himself enough to be able to talk. 

“I don’t like girls like a normal person does,” were the only words he managed to get out. 

“Mate, if you’re gay, that’s no worries. It’s totally normal-” James was cut off before he could say more. 

“No, no, I’m not gay. If I was gay, there wouldn’t be a problem. I don’t like anyone like a normal person does,” Ross told his friend. 

“I’m not quite sure I follow you,” James said, with a confused look on his face. 

“I mean that I don’t feel the same urges that normal people feel. I don’t feel the need to, y’know, do stuff with others,” Ross explained through the tears. It was at this point things clicked for James. 

“Oh. Oh, I think I understand now. You’re asexual. Mate, I don’t think you’re a freak for that. Why would I? What you get up to, or don’t get up to, is your business and not mine. I don’t really care if you have those urges or not,” James said in a comforting way. 

“Asexual? What’s that?” Ross couldn’t say he’d heard of that word before. 

“It means that you don’t experience sexual attraction to anyone. You can still feel romantic attraction to people though.” 

The relief that flooded over Ross lifted the massive weights that had been pulling him down for so long. He also finally had a name for it; asexuality. A smile spread its way across Ross’s face, something he couldn’t contain for the life of him. The tears of fear and sadness he had been crying turned to tears of happiness. 

“You have no idea how much that means to me,” Ross said without once faltering in his smile. 

“You know that you can always talk to me, mate. I’m always here for you,” James said, giving his friend a pat/rub on the back. 

“I appreciate that,” Ross said to his friend. “Do you think that Henry will also accept me?” Ross questioned. 

“I’m pretty sure he will,” James replied. “Why wouldn’t he? I mean, do you really think he’ll care such a thing?” 

That was when Ross started looking at things a bit more logically. Of course, his friends wouldn’t care about such a trivial thing. His emotions had been controlling his thoughts for so long, that all the logic had left him. 

“I’m gonna tell Henry. I want my friends to know. You won’t tell him, will you? I want to be the one to do it,” Ross asked of his friend. 

“This is your business, not mine. If you wanna tell someone, that’s up to you, not me,” James answered. Ross was so happy now. He felt so relieved knowing he had such a great friend in James. 

“Thanks, mate. I really appreciate it. Also, thanks for talking to me. Even though I didn’t really want to at first, I really needed it,” Ross said to James. 

“Anytime,” James responded. 

“I think I should head off to bed now. It’s been a long day. Maybe we could try and do something just you and me tomorrow while Henry’s gone?” Ross asked his friend. 

“That sounds good. I’ll wake you up at 6AM,” James said with a cheeky grin on his face. Ross gave him a look back that said ‘not even funny as a joke,’ before heading up to his room. 

When he got up there, his mind was filled with thoughts of the mysterious woman Ellie. He knew he had met her somewhere else before. 

Ross turned over in his bed, wondering why he even found it so important to know about her. If he barely recognized her, maybe they had only seen each other in the street before. But then remembering James’s words from earlier strengthened his desire to find out more. James also felt like he had seen her from somewhere else. 

There was something more to this story than met the eye, Ross was sure of it. 

Lifting up his phone, Ross quickly searched for the term asexual, starting to read up on it. It all just really clicked for him. As an asexual, you didn’t experience sexual attraction to others. Some asexuals are also repulsed by the idea of sex, which really did describe him properly. 

Ross kept on reading, finding more and more info on asexuality and people’s experiences of being asexual until sleep finally took him.


	3. Chapter 3

The phone blaring throughout the house at 10AM was what pulled Ross out of his deep sleep. He didn’t immediately get out of bed, but after thinking for a bit realized that Henry had already left to go and see his girlfriend and that James was the heaviest sleeper Ross knew. If that phone was going to be answered, Ross would have to do it himself. 

Begrudgingly, Ross dragged himself out of his bed and down the stairs to the landing where the phone was located. 

Ross picked up the phone, “Hello, this is Ross speaking,” Ross said into the phone in a sleep-muddled voice. 

“Ah, good day to you Ross. It’s Craig. I hope I didn’t wake you,” the voice at the other end replied. 

“No, not at all,” Ross lied, trying to clear his voice from the sleep. 

“I’m glad,” Craig replied, not sounding completely convinced. “Anyway, I managed to land you that promotion that we were talking about earlier. You know, the one with the other gamer?” 

It took a little while for Ross’s mind to connect the dots, but then it came back to him. Craig had suggested they do a collaboration with another gamer that Craig helped manage. None of the trio had had the time to look into the other person Craig had suggested, but had lept at the chance of doing a collaboration. It wasn’t really something the trio had done before, but they all really wanted to give it a go. 

“Oh yeah. Oh, that’s great, Craig! Thanks mate!” Ross said happily. 

“Anytime. A date is yet to be decided, but I’ll give you her contact info, so the two of you can discuss further details.” 

Craig told Ross the number and name of the person they’d be collaborating with. Ellie Larsen. Odd. Ellie was an unusual name and to have only the yesterday met someone with that name felt like an odd coincidence. ‘Maybe they’re the same person?’ Ross thought to himself. ‘'No, that’s ridiculous,’ He thought, ‘There must surely be more people with that name than I initially thought.’ 

After the conversation was finished, Ross hung up the phone. Heading into the kitchen and seeing all of the dishes before him, he made a mental note that they should definitely save up for a dishwasher. 

After making a couple of sandwiches, Ross made his was over to the telly to watch something whilst he ate. Flicking the TV on, he saw that there wasn’t much of interest on at that time of day. After looking through the channels for a while, Ross finally settled on Antiques Roadshow. 

When the sandwiches were gone, Ross got up and picked up his computer. He proceeded to start reading the comments on their latest video that had been uploaded last night. James must have done it after Ross had gone up to his room. Even though they consistently uploaded on Tuesdays and Fridays, the time was far from decide. They had been planning on trying to get them on a schedule, but sometimes things are easier said than done. 

The first comments to come in were the usual ‘first’ comments, and there were the regular trolls saying how they sucked, but Ross had learnt how to tune those comments out so they didn’t bother him as much as they used to. They still hurt a bit though. 

What helped was reading the other supportive comments that appeared on their videos. People telling them that they did a great job and that they enjoyed the banter between the trio. Others saying that they really liked the game they were playing; some going as far as to saying they had bought the game because it looked so fun in the videos that they released. 

They made Ross smile a little. It was nice to see the support from their fanbase; and especially nice seeing that those comments by far outweighed the negative ones. 

The thumping on the stairs signalled that James had woken up and was on his way down. 

“Sleep well, mate?” James asked as he walked into the living room on his way into the kitchen to get a bite to eat. 

“Yeah, not bad. You?” Ross replied, closing his computer and putting it aside. 

“Yeah, alright. I was thinking that maybe we’d like to go out to the D&D game night today. Jake and Paul have organized one. I got a message from them saying that two people had dropped out at the last minute and were wondering ifwe were interested in taking their place.” 

“That sounds good. I’d like that,” Ross replied. It had been a while since he’d met up with Jake and Paul. They were good friends of James and Ross. 

“Would you like to play some farcry 3 with me after you’ve eaten?” Ross asked. 

“Let's do that after we’ve been to the shops. There’s some stuff I’d like to get from there for our night out,” James replied as he sat down in the sofa with his sandwiches. When he looked up at the telly, he saw that Antiques Roadshow was on. “Antiques Roadshow? Really?” 

Ross quickly flipped the channel in his embarrassment over to something else. The news could be heard coming from the telly now. Ross turned to look at James now with his cheeks turning a slight shade of pink. 

James started chuckling lightly. “I’m only messing with you. Antiques Roadshow isn’t so bad. And it’s not like we’ll find anything better to watch at this time of day.” 

Ross calmed down at his friend’s response. “You’re such an arsehole, James,” Ross said with a small smile spreading across his face, giving his friend a playful shove before flicking back to Antiques Roadshow. 

As James sat down on the sofa next to Ross, Ross remembered the phone call he had had in the morning with Craig. 

“Oh yeah, James. I heard back from Craig today about the collaboration we were thinking of doing.” 

“Oh yeah?” James replied, putting down his sandwich to pay more attention to Ross. 

“She said she would. I got her details here so we can call her later, if she doesn’t call first. Funny thing is her name is also Ellie. An odd coincidence, don’t you think?” 

“It is odd,” James replied with his brows furrowed. 

The conversation more or less died out after that. The only sound that could be heard was the telly, and James munching on his sandwich. Once they were done, they made plans to head out to the shops to get some stuff to bring with to the D&D night. As the guys were putting on their jackets, the phone started ringing. 

James went over to the phone and answered it since he was the closest to it. 

“Hello, Alex James talking,” James said into the phone. After the reply came on the other end, James’s posture straightened up. “Hi, Ellie.” 

Ross perked up at that name. So, she had called them already. Ross moved closer, hoping to overhear some of the conversation. Unfortunately, the phone’s speaker was designed in a way that meant that only the person who had the phone pressed to their ear could hear the other end. 

Ross decided to wait for James to finish up the call and then talk to him to know what was being said. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I can make those kinds of plans right now. One of our members is currently away. I’ll need to talk to him about this, but if you have any suggestions for dates, I’ll be happy to hear them. Yeah, I’ll ask and make sure that they work. Thanks for calling. Have a nice day. Goodbye.” James put the phone down. 

“Well?” Ross asked inquisitively. 

“That was Ellie, the creator who we’re going to be collaborating with. We were thinking of trying to do the filming next week once Henry’s back. We should probably message him and let him know what’s going on,” James said as he pulled out his phone from his pocket. He quickly typed a couple of messages and then proceeded to put his phone back in his pocket again. 

“Right, shall we head out then?” James asked Ross. 

“Sure,” Ross replied. They headed off to their local shops by foot. 

“Did her voice ring any bells for you?” Ross asked his friend as they walked down the street. He hoped that maybe it was the same Ellie that he had met in the pizzeria. 

“I can’t say it did, mate. Sorry,” James replied. 

“Nah, it’s okay. It was a bit of a stretch to think they were the same person to start with,” Ross said, his sight fixated on the ground. 

“I don’t know. They could still be the same person. I mean, when we were getting pizza, I didn’t really hear her voice. There’s still a possibility.” 

Ding. It was James’s phone. James fished it out of his pocket. He looked at the screen for a little before typing a quick reply. 

“Looks like you’ll be finding out next week. That was Henry. He said he’d be able to do the collaboration with Ellie next week,” James said to Ross. 

Ross felt the excitement rising in his body. Soon he would know. Maybe this would bring him one step closer to understanding why he felt like he recognized her. 

Once at the shops, the pair of them picked up the necessities for a D&D night; crisps and fizzy drinks. 

Whilst Ross was perusing the sweets aisle, he heard James from another part of the shop. “Oh, hi guys! How are you doing?” 

Another voice, one he didn’t recognize, replied to James. “Alright, James? I heard you and Ross would be joining us tonight.” 

“Yeah, I did,” Ross overheard James reply. “Oi, Ross. Come here a sec.” 

Ross walked over to where James was talking to Jake and Paul. When Ross arrived, he saw the lanky figures of Jake and Paul. 

“Hi, there, guys. Long time, no see.” Ross said as he offered his hand up to them to shake. 

“Nice to see ya, Ross. Yeah, We’re gonna have to catch up tonight whilst playing D&D,” Jake said as he accepted Ross’s handshake. 

“Don’t worry, I’ve made sure to stock up on the alcohol,” Paul told Ross as Ross offered his hand to him. 

“So, it’ll be just us four tonight,” James explained. 

“Oh, nice. I’m looking forward to it,” Ross said, giving Jake and Paul a polite smile. Jake and Paul offered Ross a polite smile back. 

“That’s great. Shall we meet up at my place around 7PM then?” Jake asked James and Ross. The two of them agreed that that would be a good time to meet. After saying their farewells, James and Ross proceeded to the checkout where they paid for their items and left. 

When the two of them got home from the shops, Ross went upstairs to pack the things he’d need to spend the night, whilst James went to the kitchen and started cooking a lunch for the two of them. He prepared some extra food that they could eat before they left for the D&D night. 

After eating the lunch that James had made, which was an oven baked chicken stuffed with cheese with a side of potato wedges, James hurried upstairs, packed his stuff and then joined his friend downstairs in the living room to play some FarCry 3. 

It was relaxing to just play some casual games with his friend. It was really different from playing games as a job. When you had a camera recording you, it was more pressure and it was more of an act. 

The time flew past as the two friends played together. When they finally glanced up at a clock, they saw it was already 18:30. 

“Shit,” Ross spat out as he quickly saved and quit the game. The two friends quickly put away the controllers. They then proceeded to run up the stairs, grab their bags and dart out of the front door, barely giving themselves enough time to put their shoes on. 

The place they were going to wasn’t far away, if you had a car. Unfortunately, the trio’s car was parked at the train station. Henry had taken it since he was always running late for the train. It was a couple of kilometres to the train station, and Henry tried to get up to walk there, but ultimately, he often failed. Normally it didn’t matter though, since the other two rarely needed the car in Bristol. 

The two friends set off on their walk to Jake and Paul’s place. It would take them about 25-30 minutes if they hurried, so with some luck, they wouldn’t be too late. 

The brisk walk in the fresh spring air felt like it took much longer than it did. As they arrived, Ross turned to look as James and could see that James’s eyes were filled with water. 

“Are you okay? Is something wrong?” Ross said, thinking that James was sad about something. 

“It’s my damned allergies. The pollen must be starting to come out now,” James muttered to Ross. 

Ross knocked on the door, which was quickly opened by Paul. “Guys! You made it! James, you look terrible,” Paul said, noticing the droplets that were now starting to fall down James’s face. 

“Yeah, I know. Do you guys have any allergy medicine?” James said as both he and Ross stepped into the house. 

“Yeah, it’s in the cabinet above the sink in the bathroom,” Paul said, pointing towards the bathroom. 

“Cheers, mate,” James thanked as he went into the bathroom to alleviate his allergy problems. 

Ross was then left alone with Paul. It had been months since they had last met, so Ross felt a bit awkward. “So, where will we be playing?” Ross asked to break the awkward silence that had fallen over them. 

“This way,” Paul replied, also eager to break the silence. 

They walked through the hallway and into the living room. Jake was already sitting there, with the papers, dice and other necessary items in front of him. Jake looked up from his character sheet to see Paul and Ross standing in the living room. 

“Ross, nice to see ya here!” Jake exclaimed when he caught sight of Ross’s tall figure. 

“I’m glad to be here,” Ross replied. “So, do we have predetermined characters, or are we choosing our own?” 

“Well, I’ve chosen a story and characters for it, but you guys can choose from the characters I’ve selected,” Jake explained. 

“Sounds good,” James replied from behind Ross and Jake, startling Ross. 

“Shall we get going then?” James asked, taking a step past Ross and Paul into the living room and taking a seat opposite Jake. 

“Sure thing,” Paul and Jake said in unison. “Ha! Jinx, you owe me your soda,” Jake said, pointing at Paul. Ross heard Paul mutter “damn it,” under his breath, as the two of them made their way over to the table to join Jake and James. 

They chose their characters with Jake being the game master. James chose an Orc warrior character, Paul a bard who had just been dragged along and Ross took an Elf with magical abilities. The game started and Ross could feel himself relaxing into the situation as the time passed. It was quite fun to go out and do stuff. It was something that Ross hadn’t done for quite a while, but was thankful that James had dragged him out. 

The game was fun, with Paul managing to sing his way out of a hostile situation at one point, and Ross managing to transform the enemies into coffee cups. 

After the D&D game was finished, Jake and Paul invited Ross and James to stay and just hang out for a bit. The two accepted the invitation. Paul went quickly off to the fridge and 

fished out some beers. 

“Want one?” Paul offered Ross and James. The two accepted the offer. 

The four of them moved from the table over to the sofa, with Paul sitting on a foot rest since there wasn’t enough space for all of them on the sofa. The couple of beers they had turned into many beers for Jake and Paul. Ross and James declined more after their second or third one, and light chatting they’d been having suddenly turned into truth or dare. 

“James,” Jake said in a slightly slurred voice, as he turned to face James, “truth or dare?” 

“Dare,” James replied. 

“I dare you to chug that beer of yours in ten seconds,” Jake said, smiling as he saw how much of the beer was left. It was almost a full bottle. 

James lifted his beer, looked at it, and shrugged before chugging it down as fast as he could. Cheering erupted from Jake and Paul as they watched James throw his head back and pour the contents of the bottle down his throat. 

Once the contents was gone from the bottle, James slammed the empty container down on the table in front of him. Applauds came from Jake and Paul, with Ross smiling at his friend. 

“That was awesome, man!” Paul exclaimed. 

“Ross, your turn. Truth or dare?” Jake asked Ross. 

Worrying that he might be asked to drink more, even though he didn’t want to, Ross opted for truth. 

“Alright, how many women have you slept with?” Jake asked. 

‘Shit,’ Ross thought to himself. He didn’t want to lie to Jake and Paul. They’d been friends for years. But neither was he sure how accepting they would be if he told them the truth. Whilst thinking about what to do, Jake’s voice interrupted his train of thought. 

“Too many to count, eh?” Jake asked, a slight laugh coming out with his slurred words. 

Ross laughed half-heartedly with Jake. “Y’know, is it okay if I take a dare instead?” Ross asked, but he knew what the answer would be before it even came. 

“What? No. C’mon man, we wanna know now. It can’t be that bad. Just tell us,” Jake pressed, leaning slightly forwards; both him and Paul eagerly awaiting Ross’s answer. 

Ross sucked in a deep breath, trying to decide what to do. ‘It can’t be that bad. I’m sure they’ll be understanding. I mean, James was.’ 

“None, actually.” 

Jake and Paul looked shocked at the answer. Ross didn’t turn to look at James, he wanted to deal with just Jake and Paul, hoping they would accept him. 

“What? Are you gay or something?” 

“Asexual actually,” Ross said, glad to finally have a way to describe himself. 

There was silence for a bit, with Ross holding his breath, waiting for the answer from Jake and Paul. What came next made Ross’s heart sink. Both Jake and Paul started laughing at him in unison. 

“Good one,” Paul managed to get out between his laughing. 

“I was serious...” Ross said dejectedly. 

The laughing instantaneously stopped. A look of shock spread across Jake’s and Paul’s faces. 

“What the hell? Asexual you said? Nah, mate. You can’t be. Plants are asexual. Does that mean you’re a flower or something?” Jake said mockingly. Ross couldn’t think of a reply. It was exactly this sort of thing that he was scared of happening. The only thing he was capable of right then was holding back the tears, and that was only barely. 

“Just admit it. You’re some kind of freak who just can’t get it up and now you’re just looking for excuses,” Paul said with a look in his eye of contempt. Hearing the hurtful words he had been dreading caused the first tear to fall. 

Bam. 

James’s fish collided straight on with Paul’s face. The force of it sending Paul tumbling backwards off the foot rest he had been sitting on. Jake jumped to his feet, readying himself for a fight. He was no match for James though. James was about twice his size and had been drinking much less than Jake had during the night. 

Jake took a swing at James’s face, but James just grabbed his arm and twisted it around so that Jake’s arm was pinned behind his back. 

“Don’t you dare talk about my friend like that, ever,” James growled at Jake, whilst Paul tried, and failed, to pick himself up off the floor. 

“Ross, grab our things. We’re leaving,” James said, not once taking his eyes off of Jake and Paul to make sure they didn’t try and make a move towards Ross. 

Ross scurried off and quickly rounded up their things. Luckily, they hadn’t moved around a lot, so rounding up their things didn’t take too long. When the things had been jammed down in their bags, James threw Jake away from him, making him stumble forwards. He then turned around, put his shoes on and left with Ross. 

Once outside, Ross broke down for the second time that week. “Damn it, damn it, damn it! I’m such an idiot!” Ross cursed at himself. 

“Hey, hey, no you’re not. Those guys are just massive jerks. Don’t listen to them,” James said as he grabbed hold of Ross’s shoulders and turned him to face James. 

Ross looked up at James through his tear-filled face. He just felt so broken. If it wasn’t for James being there, Ross wouldn’t know what would have happened to him. He was just so thankful to have a friend like James there for him. 

“Those guys don’t know what they’re talking about. They're uneducated twats. Don't listen to uneducated twats,” James said to his friend. 

Ross could only nod as an answer, smiling slightly as James’s description of Jake and Paul. 

“Come on, mate. Let’s head home,” James said, giving his friend a slight pat on the back. 

The two walked off home, and due to the pollen, it wasn’t only Ross’s eyes that were watering.


	4. Chapter 4

Ross awoke to the front door slamming closed. “I’m back!” Henry could be heard yelling from down in the hallway. 

Ross lifted himself out of his bed, got dressed and then went down to the living room where he found Henry. 

“I didn’t expect you back so early,” Ross said to Henry as he turned on the kettle to make the two of them a cup of tea. 

“Early? It’s two in the afternoon,” Henry said, surprised that his friend didn’t know what time it was. 

“What?” Ross looked up at the clock and saw that it was indeed two in the afternoon. “Damn, I slept much longer than I thought I had.” 

“Long night last night?” Henry asked. 

Ross remembered the events of last night as he put tea bags into the two cups he had taken out of the cupboard. “You could say that.” 

The kettle finished boiling. Ross grabbed it and poured the boiling water into the cups. He then put a splash of milk in them and one sweetener in his own tea. Handing the unsweetened tea to Henry, Ross leaned back on the counter and started sipping on his own tea. 

“Cheers mate,” Henry said as he accepted the cup of tea that was offered to him. 

“So, how was Chelsea?” Ross asked. 

“She’s doing well. She’s looking for a new job at the moment. Her current one within retail isn’t so great,” Henry answered. 

Henry and Chelsea had been together for about a year now. They struggled to find time to meet up; partially because they lived rather far away from one another, and partially because their jobs meant they didn’t have a lot of spare time. That was often one of the reasons they recorded in bulk, so they could have more time to do other things. 

“Ah, that’s a shame. Let’s hope she gets a better one soon,” Ross replied. 

“Yeah. So, what did you and James get up to whilst I was gone?” Henry asked. It was at that moment that James appeared in the kitchen. 

Ross saw him come in, and then proceeded to make his friend a cup of tea. 

“Well, me and James played some Far Cry 3,” Ross said as he busied himself over making James a cup of tea, trying to find something to distract him from the situation he knew was coming. Unfortunately, that didn’t take so long since the water was already boiled. 

“So, you guys just sat and played Far Cry the entire time I was gone?” Henry asked, sensing there was more to the story than his friends were letting on. 

Ross took in a shaky breath, trying to compose himself. What if Henry reacted the way that Jake and Paul had? He couldn’t lose Henry, Henry was such a good friend. That’s when he remembered James’s words from the previous days. They brought him strength. 

Compiling himself, Ross turned around and gave James his cup of tea. “Not quite,” Ross answered Henry. “We went to play a DnD game with a couple of other people.” Ross was desperate to avoid using the word ‘friend’ to describe Jake and Paul. 

“How was it?” Henry asked inquisitively. 

“Not great. Henry, before I tell you any more about that, there’s something you need to know about me first,” Ross said seriously. Henry put down his cup of tea and sat down on one of the kitchen chairs. There was silence. Ross glanced sideways to James, who gave him a supportive nod. Sucking in a deep breath, Ross continued. 

“For a while now I’ve been feeling like I haven’t been able to quite fit in. It's like I've been different from the normal. I haven’t felt the needs in a relationship to, y’know...” Ross trailed off. 

“To fuck?” Henry guessed. Ross nodded. ‘Not as elegant as I would have wanted, but it works,’ Ross thought to himself. 

“It’s been worrying me for quite a while now. I kept thinking that something was actually wrong with me. The thoughts have been eating me up from the inside,” Ross explained, feeling the emotions rising within himself once more. He looked into Henry’s eyes, and could see the sadness Henry felt for him. He understood why. Ross really hadn’t been himself for quite a while and both Henry and James had noticed that. Things were finally starting to click for Henry now. 

“Ross, mate. Why didn’t you tell us earlier?” Henry asked his best friend. 

Tears were freely streaming down Ross’s face now. “I just didn’t want to lose you two as friends.” 

Henry immediately got up from his chair, walked over to Ross and gave him a big hug. Ross hugged his friend back, leaning his head into Henry’s shoulder, soaking the T-shirt that hung from Henry’s slender form with his tears. 

“You could never lose us, Ross. We’ll always be here for you. These parts of who you are, we accept them. Such a thing could never end our friendship. Right, James?” Henry turned to look at James. 

“Of course, mate. We’ll always be here for you. No matter what.” Henry grabbed a hold of James’s arm and pulled him into the hug with Ross. The three of them stood there hugging for a few minutes before Ross pulled away. 

“Well, the guys James and I played DnD with last night certainly weren’t as accepting.” Ross said as he started to explain the events of last night. 

“What happened?” Henry asked, worried about what Ross would say next. 

“Well, things were going fine throughout the DnD game, so we decided to hang out a bit more. They got some beers out and we started playing truth or dare.” 

The look on Henry’s face told Ross that he knew where this story was going. 

“Well, it didn’t take long before the question of how many people I’d slept with came up. When I told them that I hadn’t slept with anyone and that I was asexual, they started making fun of me. Said I was basically a plant and that I was just making things up because I was a freak who couldn’t get it up.” Ross tried to laugh it off, but it was obvious that the memories still hurt him. 

“It ended with James punching one of them in the face and then we grabbed our things and left.” 

Ross could see that Henry was furious at how his friend had been treated. “If I had been there myself, I’d have joined James in punching them,” Henry murmured under his breath, trying to control his shaking, clenched fists. 

“Don’t worry, mate. I punched him hard enough for the both of us. He went flying off his chair,” James said to Henry in a way of comfort. It worked. Henry’s body relaxed at the words. His fists unclenched and the shaking stopped. 

Ross, even though he would never say it out loud, was happy that his friends reacted the way they did. They were ready to defend him and make sure that he was okay. 

“Oh, yeah. Before I forget, I should call Ellie and confirm the dates. Monday still work for all of us?” James asked. Henry and Ross nodded. James then headed over to the phone in the hallway to make the call. 

After the call was done, Ross realized that if he had made the call, he would have been able to hear the voice on the other end and confirm whether it was the Ellie he had been meeting in town recently or not. ‘Damn,’ Ross thought, kicking himself for not having thought of it earlier. Oh well. At least it’s Sunday now. Tomorrow will be Monday and then he’ll get to know whether it’s the same person or not. 

The trio moved to the kitchen table where they sipped their tea in a peaceful quiet. The three of them didn’t need words to reassure that everything was okay. Sometimes the silence was enough. 

Once the tea was gone and they had just sat together for a while, the three of them decided to do some more of the editing on the bulk they had filmed a while ago. It would be good to get it finished with as soon as possible, so they didn’t have to think more of it. 

Editing made the time fly past. Not because it was particularly fun to do, it was just something to do. When they’d finished editing the entire bulk, it gave them three more episodes to upload. 

Once they had put away their equipment, James went to the stove and started to cook the three of them some dinner. Henry and Ross sat together and started to brainstorm some extra ideas for the collaboration that they were going to do tomorrow. Ross felt at ease sitting there, doing normal things together. It made him feel truly accepted and not like the freak he thought he was until recently. Just chatting and throwing ideas back and forth with Henry was a welcome distraction from all the negative thoughts he’d been having lately. 

“What about going out and playing some real-life games? We could go out and play some golf, or some other real-world game? Or maybe we could show her the interesting things here in Bristol?” Henry suggested. The idea of doing some real-world game interested Ross. 

“Yeah, golf or a similar real-world game sounds good. Maybe we could go out and try to fly a kite, or something as well?” 

Henry perked up at that idea. “A kite sounds good. That could make for a very funny video. We’re normally not that good with kites.” 

A plate of sausages and mash landed in front of Henry, quickly followed by another plate for Ross. 

“Dinnertime guys,” James said, as he took a seat with his own plate of food. The three of them started to dig in to their food. They discussed some more about the ideas they had and decided that they would really like to go outdoors and do something whilst also playing some games together and that they would decide more firmly on what to do tomorrow when Ellie arrived. 

As the night fell upon them, they headed off to their respective rooms to do their own things. Ross took out his phone where he wrote some messages with friends whilst playing a mobile game. 

He was trying to get his mind off of the thoughts flying around on his head. Tomorrow he would most likely have a couple of questions answered. Shoving those thoughts aside, Ross set some alarms for the morning and put his phone down and went to sleep. 

It didn’t feel like Ross was asleep for long before the blaring sound of his alarm woke him up. In a bleary state, Ross moved his hand around, trying to locate the source of the noise to quieten it. 

His hand made contact with his phone. His thumb quickly and expertly swiped the alarm off. Ross glanced at the phone to see what time it was. 8AM. Putting his phone down, Ross rolled over, readying himself to go back to sleep again. His eyes suddenly flew open with the realization that today was the day of the collaboration. Ellie was coming over really soon. 

Ross jumped out of bed, and quickly threw on some clothes. He then flew down the stairs and into the kitchen. Once in there, he noticed that both James and Henry had beaten him to the room. 

Henry looked up from his toast to see Ross enter the room. “Good mornin’ mate. Didn’t think you would be joining us there for a second,” Henry said as a way of greeting his friend. 

As James turned around, Ross could see that he was holding two plates of toast. James stretched one of the plates out over to Ross, who happily accepted it. The three of them quickly ate their breakfast, trying to ignore their tiredness they were feeling from getting up so early. 

Shoving the last piece of toast into his mouth, Ross then proceeded to running up the stairs again and heading into the shower. He wanted to be his best for the guest they would be having over. Normally when they would do collaborations, he wouldn’t bother, but that was because normally when they did collaborations, they would do it over the internet, not meet up in real life. 

When he finished his shower, Ross went back to his room and picked out some clean clothes to wear for the day. His favourite pair of jeans and a T-shirt advertising their channel, which he would often wear to events. That would do well. 

Just as Ross pulled the T-shirt down over his head, he heard his alarm blaring again. Ross quickly picked up his phone from his bedside table and turned the alarm off. Looking at his screen, he could see that three alarm clocks he’d set for earlier that day had already been going off. Oops. 

Tucking his phone down in his pocket, Ross then left his room and headed downstairs. He didn’t even manage to get down the stairs properly before the doorbell rang. Ross finished his decent down the staircase and then went to the front door to answer it. 

He unlocked the front door and then opened it to their guest. Seeing who stood in front of him both shocked him and confirmed the previous suspicions he had about their guest’s identity. In the doorway stood the Ellie Ross had run into a few times now; the Ellie he was so sure he recognized from somewhere else. 

“Why, hello Ross,” Ellie smiled at him. “Fancy meeting you here.” 

Ross just stood there for a good minute before he felt a finger tap his shoulder. Turning around Ross saw Henry standing there looking at him confusedly. “Aren’t you going to invite her in?” Henry asked. 

That snapped Ross out of his trance. Immediately Ross moved to the side to let their guest into their house. Ellie stepped in through the doorway and into the hallway. After kicking her shoes off and putting down her bag containing her recording equipment, Ellie looked up at the two guys standing in front of her. 

Henry stretched his hand out to Ellie. “Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Chris Henry, but most people call me Henry.” 

Ellie accepted the handshake. “Nice to meet you. I’m Ellie Larsen.” A confused look spread across her face. “Shouldn’t there be three of you?” Ellie asked. It was first then that Ross realized that James wasn’t with them. 

“Yeah, James’s in the shower,” Henry answered. It was just as Henry finished his sentence that doors opening and closing upstairs could be heard, signalling that James was done with his shower. 

Henry led Ellie into the kitchen where he offered to make her and Ross a cup of tea which they happily accepted. Henry prepared four cups of tea, knowing that James would like one as soon as he came down. 

Once all of the cups of tea were prepared, the thumping on the stairs could be heard, which signalled that James was on his way down. 

Ross caught sight of James’s ginger mop of hair that was flattened to his head appear in the doorway to the kitchen. “Hey, nice to finally meet you,” James said, shaking Ellie’s hand. “Likewise,” Ellie replied. 

Henry handed over a cup of tea to James, which he happily accepted. The four of them then sat down at the table and started to discuss their plans for the day. 

The ideas that they decided on in the end was having a day out in Bristol together, and playing some Minecraft together. There was a new modpack that contained modifications to the game which Ellie recommended to them that sounded interesting. It had a load of new, different creatures, new crops and farming recipes, engineering and other fun things to do. 

The four of them would create two videos; one for each channel. The vlog type video would go up on the trio’s channel and the Minecraft video would go up on Ellie’s channel. 

After finishing off their talks and tea, they all got up and decided to go out and film the vlog first to get the best of the day. It was already 10AM. 

When putting their outdoor clothes on, James vanished into the bathroom for a second before reappearing after a minute or so and also putting on his shoes and light jacket. Ross knew he went off to go and take some allergy medication. 

Getting outside, they started to head towards their first destination. It was an old castle next to a ferry terminal with a boat that you could take to get around Bristol as a form of public transport. 

It was close by, luckily, so the walk didn’t take so long. Henry was thankful for that since carrying the camera equipment around was rather annoying. Henry had offered to start being the one to record, which was obvious by his expression he was starting to regret. 

As they arrived at the ferry port, Henry took out their camera and started to record them to get a good intro and introduce their guest for the day. They sat so that the camera could capture all of them plus the view of the river behind them. 

They were at Castle Park Station and waiting for the ferry to arrive. The views from that station were beautiful. Not only could you see the flow of the river, but you also had a view of Castle park and St Peter’s Church. 

“Hi guys! We’re out for a day in Bristol,” Henry said, starting the video. He’d set up the camera on a tripod so that he could easily film all of them at once. Ellie was not in shot. She was hidden out of shot of the first camera, playing with her phone. As a gag, the gang had decided it would be funny if they just pretended that she’s a stranger and then just dragged her into the video. They had a second camera set up that captured her so they could easily film the gag. 

“Right now we’re going to catch a ferry through Bristol to central Bristol to see the city we live in. But before that, we’re going to go and see the castle behind us. But wait,” Henry said, turning around to look at his friends next to him in a rehearsed act, “don’t you think we could do with another person to join us on our tour of Bristol?” 

Henry looks up and towards where Ellie is standing. Henry beckons his friends in closer and then points to Ellie. “Oi, guys, don’t you think that one looks lovely? Let's grab her,” Henry jumps up followed by Ross and James and then run over to Ellie. Ellie only has time to look up at the trio with a surprised face before they grab her and run off. 

After getting the footage they needed, the four of them dropped their act and headed towards St Peter’s Church and Castle park. Ross ended up walking next to Ellie. Feeling it was finally his chance, Ross was quick to start up a conversation with the woman next to him. 

“So, what kinds of videos do you enjoy making the most?” Ross asked Ellie. 

Ellie pondered it for a minute before answering. “Hmm, I think my favourite videos are the travel ones. I really love going to new places and exploring them. What about you? What are your favourite videos to make?” 

Ross thought about it for a while. Most of the videos they made were gaming videos, but whenever they went away to conventions, they would film their travels to the different places. They did play a lot of different games though. “I don’t know if I actually have a favourite. I enjoy getting to play so many different games, but I do also like making all the vlogs we do and getting to travel to so many places. However, I don’t think I’d appreciate how much I enjoy all these different things if I was confined to only doing one of these things all the time. Does that make any sense?” 

“Yeah, it does. I agree with you. If I was forced to just continuously make travel vlogs, I really don’t think I’d enjoy it that much either. I mean, yeah, they’re great fun to make, but they can also be quite exhausting. Without the gaming stuff I do in between, I doubt that I’d manage to keep going.” 

“Do you have any favourite games to play?” Ross inquired. 

“Yeah, I do. I play a fair bit of Minecraft for my channel, which I really enjoy. I also play off camera some FarCry and Skyrim.” 

“Oh, really? FarCry is one of my favourite games too!” Ross said, happy to find another person who plays FarCry. 

“That’s awesome! Maybe you and I can play some together one day. That is, if you want to?” Ellie asked Ross. 

Ross couldn’t hide the smile that was spreading across his face at the question. “I’d love to do that!” 

Ellie smiled back at him. “Then that’s decided. Let’s try and plan it in after we’re done with these collaborations.” 

It was just at that point that they arrived at the church and the park. Henry quickly set up their recording equipment again so they could continue the vlog. They decided now to drop the joke and properly introduce their guest. 

“So, today we’ll be collaborating with Ellie Larsen off of the channel IAmBoxCat. So, we thought it might be a nice thing to not only show you guys what fun things there are to do in Bristol, but also show Ellie what there is to do. Right now we’re visiting Castle Park, where St Peter’s Church stands. Ellie do you know why some of the roof is missing on the on the church?” 

“Because it was bombed during the second world war and is now preserved as a monument to the civilian deaths in Bristol,” Ellie replied as her answer to Henry’s question. 

“Correct. Someone seems to have read up on their history,” Henry said. 

“History is an interesting subject,” Ellie explained. “Shall we go and explore the park a bit then?” 

“Absolutely. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to go inside the church, since it isn’t open to the public, but we can look around it. After that, we’ll take the ferry over to where the aquarium is and see what we’ll do after that,” Henry rounded up before they went off to do some filming of them in the park. 

It was rather uneventful during the day. James at one point got stuck in a tree which Ross had to help him down from. They tried their best to fly the kite, with Henry running about with it like a nutter, but unfortunately the wind wasn’t strong enough for them. 

The ferry ride was calm and peaceful. You really got to see a good part of Bristol through taking the ferry. Henry was busy recording as much of the ride as he could. Getting to the museum, they got to see some wonderful fish. The four of them walked through a tunnel where they were surrounded by fish on all sides. 

Realizing that it was already getting rather late for lunch, the four of them decided to go out and eat something. Ross recommended going to Domino’s for pizza, since it was pretty close by. The others agreed and they went off to go and eat. 

After eating, the four went off to the bowling and played some. James completely owned them at it. Henry came second, Ross third and Ellie fourth. With Ellie making a fake pouty face, the four of them wrapped up their video and started to head home. 

Once they got home from their day out, the four of them were rather tired. James went to the kitchen and cooked a light snack for them to eat whilst Henry, Ross, and Ellie set up the recording equipment and computers. When everything was done, they all sat down and started up Minecraft on their computers. Ellie already had a server going with the modpack on it, so they decided to use that and continue on the series that Ellie had already started, and just join it as temporary guests. 

The recording of that went well. No crashes, which was always a good sign. They wrapped up the recording after having sat there and played for two and a half hours. When Ross finally glanced at a clock, he saw that it was already 8PM. 

“Gosh, time really flies,” Ross said, leaning back in his chair. 

“It really does,” James agreed with Ross. “Since it’s so late, would you like to stay for dinner with us today?” James asked, as he got out of his chair and went over to the kitchen, starting to clean the dishes. 

“Yeah, that sounds nice. I’ll be out of your hair after that though, don’t worry guys.” Ellie chuckled. 

“You’re no bother,” Ross told her as he got up and joined James in the kitchen, helping him with the dishes that desperately needed doing. 

“Well in that case maybe I’ll just move in here,” Ellie said, a cheeky grin plastered on her face. 

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here,” James said as he handed Ross a cleaned plate for him to dry off. 

Once all of the dishes were done, James opened the fridge to fish out some ingredients. There wasn’t much in there. They hadn’t done a proper shop in ages. At the back of the fridge, James found some eggs and some bacon, and in a cupboard some baked beans and bread. 

“Anyone feel like an English breakfast for dinner?” James asked. The three people at the kitchen table voiced their interest in the meal. James cooked it quickly and then served it. 

They ate it happily after not having a proper meal since lunch which was now a distant memory. Sunny side up eggs were Ross’ favourite, and he was so happy that they were prepared that way today. 

“It’s been great working with you today,” Ross said to Ellie. 

“Yeah, it was really fun. Maybe we should try and do it again sometime?” Henry asked. 

“I don’t see why not,” Ellie answered Henry and she continued to eat. 

The rest of the meal was eaten in silence. Once the food was gone, they cleared away their plates. Ross decided to just get them done and started to clean them immediately, with Ellie helping him. 

“You don’t have to, you know,” Ross said to Ellie, as she picked up the towel and started drying the dishes. 

“Yeah, but since you guys gave me a meal, I feel like this is the least I can do,” Ellie said drying off the plates and putting them away. Some of the things, she didn’t know where to put, but Ross helped her find those places. 

Once that was done, it was rather dark outside. Ellie looked out the window at the darkness. “Gosh, I think it’s about time I head home,” Ellie said. 

Henry picked up his phone and looked at the time. “Oh wow, yeah. It's nine thirty now. But hopefully we’ll get to see you again sometime soon.” 

After all the goodbyes, Ellie was gone. Ross suddenly felt like the house was much emptier. It didn’t take long for the trio to go up to their rooms. Ross loaded up the footage from the camera they took with them in Bristol today so that he could free up the storage space. 

Once that was done, Ross retired to his room with his computer. He now finally had Ellie’s last name. Looking her up on Facebook, he finally had a hit. He sent her a friend request, so that they could keep in contact. Not expecting anything more for the night, Ross was just about to put his phone down for the night when it pinged. He looked at it quickly to see what it was. 

Ross had received a notification saying that Ellie had accepted his friend request. A chat head appeared on his screen from Ellie. 

“Goodnight, Ross,” it read. Ross sat up in his bed and typed a quick reply before going to sleep. “Goodnight, Ellie. I hope we can meet up again soon.”


	5. Chapter 5

The day started as it usually did. Ross got up and went downstairs to be greeted by his two housemates sitting in the kitchen eating their breakfast. Henry was busy editing whilst James just ate. There was a plate of food ready for Ross by his normal seat. 

Ross sat down next to his friends and tucked into his meal. 

“Are you editing the vlog we filmed yesterday?” Ross asked, scooping up a helping of scrambled eggs onto his fork. 

“Yup,” Henry replied, not even looking up from his screen. 

“How’s it going?” Ross questioned through a mouthful of eggs. 

“Yeah, not bad. I’m currently making sure all the light levels are okay so you can actually see all of the footage.” 

“Shall we go out shopping today after Ross has eaten?” James asked his friends. 

It was then that Ross remembered the state of the fridge from yesterday. They were currently living on scraps. 

Both Ross and Tott agreed to go shopping. They planned to go to one of the bigger shops which was a short car ride away. 

Ross placed his now empty plate in the sink and then the three of them went out to their car and drove to the shops. 

James offered to drive on the way there and Ross said he would take the drive home. As they got into the car, Henry sat in the front and Ross in the back. Ross didn’t mind though. It wasn’t like he needed the front seat for anything in particular. 

He took his phone out of his pocket. He brought up his chat with Ellie, deciding to send her a message. “Good day, Ellie. Hope you have a nice day today.” After sending the message, he proceeded to go on to reddit and read some posts there. 

Just before they arrived at the shops, Ross got a text back from Ellie. “Good day to you too, Ross. I hope you also have a great day.” 

Reading it brought a smile to Ross’ face just as the car pulled into the parking lot. The engine turned off just as Ross slid his phone back into his pocket. 

“Alright, guys. Here we are,” James said, pulling the key from the ignition. The three got out of the car and then headed into the shop. 

They picked up the groceries that they needed. A lot of chicken ended up in their basket, since it was a cheap meat. Fruit and veg was also something they picked up, along with the other basic necessities. 

As they reached the till, Ross pulled out his phone and opened the chat with Ellie. “Would you like to hang out some time soon?” he quickly typed to her. 

Right behind him, Ross could hear the sound of a message being received on a phone. 

“Why, yes Ross. I’d love to hang out sometime soon.” The sound of Ellie’s voice from behind him made him jump. Ross quickly spun round to face Ellie, who was stood smiling at him. 

“Bloody hell. Don’t do that,” Ross exclaimed. Ellie tried to hide a giggle at Ross’ reaction, but failed miserably. 

“Sorry,” Ellie managed to get out once the giggles had subsided. “So, when do you next have time? Today, perhaps?” 

“Today I’m going to be filming a bulk with the other two, so not today. How about tomorrow?” Ross asked. 

“Works for me. I have a pretty flexible schedule,” Ellie smiled at him. 

It was then the Hat trio’s turn at the till. Henry went down to start packing. Ross knew he was needed to help pack too and felt the rush to tie things up with Ellie. 

“How about we meet up at my place at 10AM?” Ross suggested. 

“Sounds good,” Ellie agreed. 

“Ross, come on, mate,” Henry beckoned to his friend as their wares started to pile up at the end of the till. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Ross said as he started to move down to the end of the till to help his friend out. 

“See you,” Ellie replied. 

Ross quickly helped Henry deal with the wares that were piling up quicker than Henry could put them in bags. With the two of them at it, they managed to deal with the stuff. 

As they grabbed their bags, Ross turned back to look once more at Ellie as she was paying for her items before he was outside of the shop. What he missed at that point was the scheming look on his two friends face as they thought up fun practical jokes to pull on him tomorrow. 

When they got home, they all helped each other to get the groceries inside and unpack them. They left out the premade sandwiches they had bought to eat before their recording session. 

Scoffing down a cheese and ham sandwich, a chicken sandwich, and an eggs and bacon sausage, Ross felt that his stomach was satisfied. 

Quickly setting up their recording equipment, the trio jumped into their session. They were recording some of their Minecraft series today since they were running out of those episodes to upload. They played with a modpack which was a gathering of mods that they had found throughout the years which they all really enjoyed to play. They had only recently started playing it, but the responses from their viewers was very positive. 

They had fun playing together, but after a few hours, they got to a point where they didn’t know how to progress. They decided to finish their bulk session by asking the audience what the trio needed to do to go onwards. 

Lifting their headphones off, they were done for the day with recording. Now it was on to the editing. James offered to start it off this time, since Henry had been so helpful with recording their collaboration. 

Ross went up to his room, knowing it was in a pretty terrible state. He decided to clean it before Ellie came over tomorrow. 

Getting into his room, he noticed that the towel he’d placed on his bed a while ago was still there, along a bunch of old clothes, some coat hangers, and even some deodorant. 

The floor wasn’t in a better state. If anything, it was worse. Ross was thankful that he had thought to go up to his room and clean. 

Cleaning the room properly took a long time and a lot of energy. He decided to vacuum even, which wasn’t something he often bothered with. Once he was done and had turned the vacuum cleaner off, he could hear James shouting for him from the bottom of the stairs. 

“Ross, for the final time, dinner’s ready. If you want it, you better be downstairs in the next twenty seconds.” 

‘Shit,’ Ross thought to himself as he abandoned everything and make his way downstairs. If it had been anyone else saying that to him, he wouldn’t have rushed like he was doing, but this was James we were talking about. He had once dared to take it easy before, and that day James had ended up eating two portions, and Ross had been left to fend for himself. 

As Ross charged into the kitchen, he saw James standing there looking at his watch. 

“Ten seconds. Not bad at all,” James said, taking his seat next to Henry, placing a plate by both his seat and Ross’. Henry already had his in front of him. Looking down at his plate, he could see that James had made him his favourite meal; Shepherd’s Pie. 

Ross happily tucked into his plate of food. “Aww mate. Thanks,” Ross said happily to his friend. 

“You’re welcome, Ross,” James replied. 

The three ate, chatting lightly about nothing of importance. Ross enjoyed it. He felt so happy to have the friends that he did. It was moments like these that really made him appreciate the life he had chosen to lead. 

Once they were done eating, it was really late. They all retired to their bedrooms to sleep. After all the cleaning and recording, Ross actually felt tired. It didn’t take him long before he was asleep. 

The next day Ross woke up to Henry shaking him. 

“Ross, why aren’t you up yet?” Henry asked with a confused look on his face. 

Blearily, Ross tried to open his eyes to look at his friend. “Huh, why? What time is it?” 

“It's quarter to ten, mate,” Henry explained. That made Ross shoot out of bed. He had really overslept. 

‘Damn it. I forgot to turn my alarms on,’ Ross thought to himself as he charged into the bathroom to have a quick shower. Ross more or less threw shower gel and shampoo onto his body. After quickly rinsing it off, he hurriedly dried his body and grabbed some new clothes from his wardrobe, throwing the ones he had slept in into his washing basket. 

Just as Ross managed to pull his shirt over his head, the doorbell went off. Ross went down the stairs and opened the door to see Ellie standing there. She smiled at him like she always did. 

“Hello, Ross. It's nice to see you again.” 

“Hi, Ellie. It’s nice to see you too. Please, come in,” Ross offered, not forgetting like he had last time she had come over. 

Ellie stepped into the house and kicked her shoes off. She was wearing a light weight dark blue jumper today. She took the jumper off and hanged it up on the coat stand in the hallway. 

The two of them walked into the living room, planning on sitting down together to play some games. They decided on playing some FarCry in co-op mode together. 

They had a great time together, working together as a team really well. After playing for a while, they were interrupted when Henry walked into the room. 

Henry looked absolutely ridiculous. Not only was he wearing a fake wig that gave him long, blonde curls, and a pair of high heels that he could barely walk in, but he also wore a tight bright pink leotard that did not leave a lot to the imagination. Slap bang in the middle of that leotard was a printed picture of Ross. 

The picture was taken when the gang had gone to a Minecraft convention last year. It showed Ross, off his face drunk, wearing pink, fuzzy bunny ears, and a cute bunny nose with whiskers. He was smiling ridiculously at the camera and making a peace sign with his hand. Ross didn’t remember much at all from that night. The only reason he recognized that the picture was from the convention was because Henry had shown him the pictures the next day. He had asked Henry to delete them, but apparently, they hadn’t been removed. 

Ross felt how the heat in his face reached dangerously high levels. He really had hoped that the picture was gone for good, and had definitely hoped that the picture wouldn’t have resurfaced in such an embarrassing way. 

“Evening, ladies,” Henry said to the two on the couch as he waltzed into the living room, spinning a purse around on his wrist. 

“Oh, my god, Ross,” Ross heard Ellie gasp with a hint of laughter next to him. It was at that point Ross leapt out of the sofa in the way of the line of sight between Ellie and Henry. Ross quickly grabbed a hold of Henry and started shoving him out of the living room and towards the staircase. 

“What the hell, Henry?!” Ross shouted in a hushed tone once they were at the bottom of the staircase. 

“What? I thought she might like to see a picture of you,” Henry said, trying to feign innocence. 

Ross gave him a look which told Henry that either he goes upstairs and change, or be prepared to be murdered. Henry, knowing he didn’t even have time to take his heels off, scampered upstairs as quickly as he could, almost breaking his ankle at one point during the climb. 

Shaking his head slightly, Ross made his way back into the living room, where Ellie was trying, and failing, to stifle her giggles. 

Ross gave her an exasperated look. “Come on, was it really that funny?” 

Ellie looked up towards Ross. Unable to stop giggling, she just nodded her head as a way of response. 

Ross shook his head as he looked down at the floor. Thinking back on the event and just exactly how utterly ridiculous Henry had looked. That leotard had really creeped up dangerously close to his crotch, the heels he had worn forced his to bend his legs awkwardly so as to keep his balance. The wig that was sliding slightly sideways, perched on top of his head. Even Ross couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of his friend. 

Both Ross and Ellie laughed together in the living room, the paused game of FarCry long forgotten. Once the two had calmed down, they realized it was lunch time. They decided to go out and eat together so as to not be disturbed again. They decided to go to a local Italian restaurant which was about a ten-minute walk away from the house. 

Once they were inside, they took a seat at an empty table. A waiter quickly came over to them and handed them menus. The pair scanned through the menus, picking out what they’d like to eat. 

Ross settled on a spaghetti Bolognese. With it, he decided to drink a diet coke. It was a bit early in the day to start drinking alcohol. 

Ellie put down her menu as well, and when the waiter came over, she ordered a Fanta and a Mediterranean grilled chicken. 

As they waited for their food to arrive, the two of them started talking. 

“So, how have you been since we last met up?” Ross asked. 

“I’ve been pretty good. I’ve started work on editing the footage of us playing together recently. What about you?” 

“Also good. I’ve also been editing the footage of our collaboration.” 

“It was a nice day out,” Ellie smiled at Ross. “I’ve never really gone out and explored Bristol before. I’ve only lived here for a few months now.” 

“Oh really? I’m glad we could take you out for a bit then. It was really nice for me as well. I'd never thought to actually look around and enjoy what Bristol has to offer before either,” Ross answered. 

“Bristol’s a nice place. Have you always lived here?” Ellie asked. 

“No, actually. I moved here about a year ago when me and the other two decided to move in together to make working easier.” 

“Oh, where did you live before?” Ellie asked curiously. 

“I used to live in Swansea,” Ross replied. 

“Was it nice there?” 

“Yeah, it wasn’t bad. My parents are still there.” Ross stopped short. He hadn’t seen his parents since he’d moved out. He hadn’t wanted to. Ross quickly shifted the focus off of him. “What about you? Where did you used to live?” 

“Well, I used to actually live in Norway.” 

Ross’ eyes widened. He had not expected her to come from so far away. Her accent was definitely British, and did not sound Norwegian. The only hint that she came from a different country was her surname. 

“I would not have guessed that,” Ross said. Ellie smiled at him. 

“I don’t think most people would. A lot of the people around me when I was growing up spoke English. I have a fair few family members that live in English-speaking countries, so I picked it up from a young age. The English education in Norway is pretty good as well.” 

“That must have been really cool,” Ross said, intrigued. 

“In some ways, yes. Others, not so much. Because I excelled so much at English, others teased me, saying I was a teacher’s pet and just wanted to suck up to the teacher. They didn’t really listen when I told them that wasn’t the case. Should have known they wouldn’t though. Kids rarely listen at that age.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Ross answered. 

It was just at that point that the food arrived at the table. The two of them happily tucked in. Ross was so hungry after not having eaten breakfast that day. 

The meal was eaten with some light chatter and a few jokes thrown in. Ross really felt happy talking to her. It felt so natural and like he really hadn’t connected with someone like this for so long. He hadn’t dared, to be honest. 

Ever since the incident with his ex, Jenny, he had refused to let himself get that close to him. That hadn’t stopped people from trying to get close to him, but that had never turned out well. It had normally ended with him cutting them out of his life altogether. 

Ross still felt a bit apprehensive about letting someone in properly, but felt like this time it might be worth the risk. He didn’t know if he felt this way because he had the support from his friends, if because he just really felt lonely after not having proper contact with people for so long, or if it was because there was still a nagging feeling that there was something more to Ellie than she was letting on. Maybe it could be a combination of all three. Either way, letting Ellie into his life felt like the right thing to be doing. 

Once their plates were cleaned of the food, the two of them decided to take a walk together along the river and to the park they had visited a couple of days ago to film the vlog. It was a nice area to be in the spring. There blossoming trees filled the park with snowy white flowers, the green grass made the park feel so vibrant, and the flowers that filled the flowers beds by the church gave the park so many beautiful colours. 

Ross turned to look at Ellie and saw a genuinely happy smile spread wide across her face. It was contagious, and Ross couldn’t help but smile himself. 

“I do really like this place. It's really beautiful,” Ellie said, as she stopped walking to enjoy the scenery. 

Ross stopped with her. It really was a pretty place. “It is truly pretty. Maybe one day we can go and see some other beautiful places.” Ellie turned to him with a hopeful expression on her face. 

“I’d really love to do that,” Ellie happily answered. “This isn’t specifically Bristol, but I'd really like to go and see the sea again. It's been quite a while since I last saw it.” 

“Well, there is a nice beach I’d like to show you. We could go there one day, if you’d like.” 

Ellie was almost jumping with joy. Ross thought she looked a little bit like a child being given ice cream. He laughed a little bit to himself at the parallel he had just drawn. Ellie heard him and looked up at him with a confused expression. 

“What? What are you laughing at?” Ellie said, looking right into Ross’ eyes. The serious look on Ellie’s face made it even more difficult for Ross to keep a straight face. 

“Nothing,” Ross lied. He knew it wouldn’t work though. Not through the giggles that were seeping out from him. 

“It’s definitely something,” Ellie pressed. Ross tried to just continue their walk, which earned him a friendly push from Ellie. 

“You’re just so cute,” Ross heard himself say. He had not meant to say that. He felt the heat rise in his face as it hit him what he’d just said. Turning to face Ellie, he could see that he wasn’t the only one blushing. Ellie’s cheeks were flaming red. 

“Do- do you really think I'm cute?” Ellie asked as she grabbed a hold of Ross’ arm. 

Ross was still stunned by the fact he had just called Ellie cute out loud. It was like he had forgotten how to speak after that. Ellie was still looking at him, waiting patiently. 

Ros tried to answer her, but at first all that came out was mumbled nonsense. “Well, well, I-I- I- Umm... Er... Yeah,” Ross finally managed to get out. 

Ross noticed that Ellie’s cheeks had somehow managed to get even brighter. She turned away from him, but didn’t let go of his arm. 

The two of them continued on their walk. Ross felt Ellie’s hand slip down from his arm and into his own hand. He didn’t pull away from the touch, instead he squeezed her hand gently in response. Ross knew that things had gone pretty fast between him and Ellie, but that didn’t matter. Things had just felt so right. 

After spending some time in the park, the two of them decided to head over to Ellie’s place where they could be alone and not disturbed by Henry and James. 

It wasn’t far from the park they were in. Ellie had a small flat in a tall building. When they got inside, Ross could see that there wasn’t much room for more than the necessities. There was a bed that was sheltered from the rest of the room by a curtain drawn around it, a stove, a few shelves and a small bathroom with a shower in a second room. 

“It’s not much, but it’s home,” Ellie said as she put down her keys on the unit just inside the front door. 

“It’s cosy,” Ross said as he took in the flat. 

Ellie turned to look at him with a doubting expression on her face. “It’s tiny,” she remarked. 

“Cosy,” Ross reaffirmed as he walked into the flat. Ellie just rolled her eyes. 

Ellie was in one of the flats that was along the river. Seeing it from the window was really nice. Ross could see the ferry they had taken the other day putting along in the water. 

They took advantage of their privacy and decided to sit on the sofa together and watch a film. They settled on a Netflix film that the two agreed on. It was some action film that was one of the first to come up when they searched for action. 

The film was okay, but it wasn’t great either. Once it was over, Ross checked the time to see that it was getting rather late. He got up from his seat on the sofa, readying himself to leave. 

“I think I should start heading home now,” Ross announced. 

Ellie got up next to him. “Yeah, sure. It’s been nice spending the day with you today. Let's try and do it again sometime,” Ellie said with a smile on her face. 

“I’d like that,” Ross said, as he grabbed his light jacket in the hallway and put his shoes on. 

“I’ll see you another time then,” Ellie said as she walked up to Ross to see him off. 

“Yeah,” Ross said as an awkward silence fell over them. Ross wondered if he should go in for a hug or not. He didn’t have time to decide in the end, because Ellie approached him and gave him a hug. She had to stand on her toes to reach around his neck both because Ross was so tall and Ellie was rather short. Ross embraced her around her waist in return. 

Once they had let go of one another, they said their final farewells and Ross started to head home. On the way home, Ross was left alone with his thoughts. They circulated a lot around today. Ellie was nice, and he really liked her. They got along really well, but maybe things were moving a bit too fast for Ross to feel completely comfortable. Ross took up his phone preparing to call her. 

The phone rang for a little before Ross heard Ellie pick up. 

“Hi, Ross. Miss me already?” Ellie answered cheerfully on the other end. 

“Hey, um, actually, can we just be a little bit serious for a sec?” Ross asked, feeling a bit bad for being a dampener on the mood. However, he knew he was doing the right thing. It was better to make sure that things didn’t end awkwardly and make sure that both of them were comfortable. 

“Yeah, yeah, absolutely,” Ellie answered, an obvious change in her voice to a serious, and was that a hint off worry Ross could detect in her tone? 

“Things between us have just been going so fast, and don’t get me wrong, I really do like you, but I just want to take things a bit slower. I still want to hang out with you, but let’s just keep things on a friendship level for now until we get to know each other a bit better.” Ross felt the lump in throat forming as he awaited Ellie’s response. He didn’t have to wait long luckily. 

“Of course. We'll take it at the pace you feel comfortable with. The last thing I want to do is make you uncomfortable,” Ellie answered, sounding a bit relieved, which confused Ross slightly, bus also made him feel relieved that she was okay with it. Ross let go of the breath that he hadn’t even realized that he was holding. 

“Thanks, Ellie. I really appreciate you being so understanding,” Ross admitted to his friend. 

“Anytime. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?” Ellie questioned. 

“No, that was all. Thanks again, Ellie. I hope you have a good rest of your evening.” 

“You’re welcome. I hope you also have a good evening,” Ellie replied before the two hung up. 

Ross felt glad he had called Ellie. This was one relationship he really didn’t want to screw up. As he finished his walk home, he looked back on the day a bit more fondly than he had earlier.


	6. Chapter 6

When Ross walked through the front door, he was greeted by an eager James and Henry, the two awaiting the gossip they were hoping to get out of their friend. 

“Well?” Henry asked expectantly. 

Ross, not wanting to answer all their questions at that exact point in time, tried to deflect them. “Well what? I was just hanging out with a friend. What about you two? What did you guys do?” 

Henry saw through Ross’ plan though, much to Ross’ dismay. “You know what I’m after. Come on, how did it go? Did it go badly? Is that why you don’t want to say anything?” 

James grabbed Henry’s shoulder. “Oi, mate. Maybe we should let him be for now.” 

It was then that Henry realized that he had really been invading Ross’ privacy. “Sorry mate. Of course, you don’t have to answer, if you don’t want to,” Henry said with an apologetic look in his eyes. 

“Thanks,” Ross said as he walked into the kitchen. He rummaged through the cupboards and produced a bar of chocolate and a bad of crisps. He also opened the fridge, and pulled out a bottle of fizzy drink. 

Ross was about to go up to his room when he caught sight of his friends’ worried faces. That stopped him in his tracks. ‘Maybe I should at least give them some details,’ Ross thought to himself. 

“Jesus, guys. You really know how to guilt trip a person, don’t you? Things went fine between us. Things were starting to lead somewhere, but I told her I want to take things slow to start with. I mean, I've only really known her for less than a week.” 

“That’s fair enough,” Henry said calmly. “Sorry if I made you feel pressured into answering. I'm just excited for you.” 

Ross knew that Henry really did care for him and wanted him to be able to let more people into his life. Ross really had isolated himself before and it must have been hard for his friend to see him in that state. 

“It’s okay, Henry. Just try to tone things down for next time.” 

Henry smiled at Ross just before Ross grabbed his laptop and ran upstairs to his room. He shut the door behind him and went to his newly cleared desk. He put his stuff down on the surface and then opened his computer. It had been a rather busy day that day. Even though it had been nice, it was somewhat draining being sociable. To regain some energy, Ross sat by himself and played some games whilst eating the junk food. Ross did this until the night time slowly took away the sunlight and Ross went to bed. 

The weeks that followed were rather uneventful. Ross poured all of his time into working for the channel and chatting and meeting up with Ellie. Things were going forwards in both aspects and Ross definitely felt himself become more at ease with Ellie. The two of them ended up making plans to meet up and go to the beach that weekend. 

Ross was looking forward to it. A nice trip out to the beach in the early summer with Ellie sounded nice. He had not really had time to meet up with her lately. Work had taken over and so him and his friends had either been busy recording, editing, or sleeping. They finally had a few days off now, and Ross was very thankful for it. 

A ring at the doorbell announced that Ellie had arrived for hers and Ross’ visit to the beach. Ross opened the door to see Ellie’s cheery figure standing there. 

“Are you ready to go?” She asked. 

Ross nodded. “Yeah, I’m just gonna grab my bag and tell the others that I’m off.” He headed into the kitchen where he’d put his bag. He had just been in the middle of packing a secret picnic for the two of them when the doorbell had gone off. Quickly, he swung the rucksack onto his shoulder and then made his way back into the hallway. 

“Guys, I’m leaving now!” he shouted up the stairs. A muffled “alright,” was shouted back to him as he grabbed the car keys and went out with Ellie to the car. The two of them got into the car and headed off for the drive to the beach. 

The beach was a couple of hours away, but Ross definitely found it worth it. Not only was there a beach, but there was a scenic walking path along the clifftops. Ross was really looking forward to sharing the experience with Ellie. They made some light chit-chat, talking about where they’d travelled to before and their favourite places to visit. 

Ross fondly remembered a trip he’d taken to Thailand with Henry and Ross. A charity they’d helped fund had hosted an event there as a way of saying thank you to all the people who helped gather money. They’d stayed for a few days there, and gone around and explored the country a bit at the same time. 

Once they arrived, Ross parked the car and the two got out. The actual beach was a short walk away, but Ross could already feel the salty breeze hitting them. 

“So, you’ve been keeping it a secret all this time, but do you mind telling me where we are now?” Ellie questioned. 

“It’s a small place, called Combe Martin,” Ross replied, opening the door to the back seats of the car and taking out his bag. 

“Why couldn’t you tell me earlier?” 

“Honestly? I didn’t want you looking up the place before going here with me. I wanted it to be a complete surprise,” Ross told Ellie as he shut the last door to the car and locked it. 

The two of them set off towards the coastline. Ross could tell that if Ellie were here alone, she would be more or less running to get to see the sea-view as soon as possible. As they reached the edge of the land, they could see the sea below them. They were high up on a cliff, viewing the ocean below them, the blue water lapping at the beach below them. The cliffs were made of white rocks, and on the cliffs spread the vibrant green grass, filled with colourful flowers. 

It was this moment that Ross had been waiting for. Ross turned to look at Ellie and saw her wide-eyed expression. A smile spread across her face as she looked around and took in the sight of where she was. 

“I can see why you didn’t want me to look this place up in advance,” Ellie said after looking at the breath-taking view in front of her for minutes. “Are we going to go down to the beach now?” She asked Ross. 

“Actually, I thought we could take a walk along the clifftops first. The views from up there are truly beautiful. I think you’d like it.” 

Ellie smiled at Ross. “Then let’s get going,” Ellie said, heading for the marked path on the cliffs. They walked along together, enjoying the views they had of the sea below, and the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks below. 

A grumble from Ellie’s tummy was what finally disturbed the peace around the two of them. Ross turned to look at her, with Ellie meeting his gaze in return, cheeks tinted red. 

“I guess we should turn back then and look for somewhere to eat,” Ellie said with a hint of disappointment in her voice. 

“Well, actually...” Ross started as he slung the rucksack off his shoulder and put it on the ground. Intrigued, Ellie moved closer to Ross to see what he would produce from the bag. Ross first pulled out a picnic blanket, which he placed on the ground for the two of them. After that, he fished out some boxes containing sandwiches, fruit and some biscuits. A thermos containing tea, some cups, and then some water bottles were the last things Ross pulled out. 

They sat down together and ate their lunch. Sitting by the clifftop, overlooking the sea that was between them and Wales. The two admired the view. 

Ross pointed straight out across the sea, to the land on the other side. “Over there is Swansea, where I come from.” 

“Oh, wow! I never knew it was so close,” Ellie said, looking over where Ross was pointing. “Do you try and visit them often?” 

Ross stiffened at the question. He had deliberately been avoiding his parents ever since he’d moved out. They’d tried to contact him, but he hadn’t let them into his life. 

“Err, no, actually...” Ross trailed off. 

Ellie sat more upright, sensing something was wrong with Ross. Ross put down his sandwich, readying himself to tell Ellie 

“I pushed them away. They're better off without me,” Ross said as emotionlessly as he could. 

“Why would any parent be better off without their child?” Ellie asked, a confused look painted on her face. 

“I’ll just be a disappointment to them.” 

“Ross, tell me. Why would you be a disappointment to them?” Ellie questioned Ross. 

Ross took a deep breath. “First of all, I could tell that they weren’t thrilled about my career choice. I think they wanted me to choose a job that was more stable. Secondly, I know that they really wanted grandchildren, but I don’t think I could ever be a dad. A child isn’t something I want in my life.” 

“Have they explicitly said that you’re a disappointment?” Ross shook his head. “Have you even talked to them and told them you don’t want children?” Ross shook his head again. “One final question; if you look away from all the reasons you’ve listed as to why they might not want contact with you, do you want contact with them?” 

Ross thought about this for a while. He really did miss his parents. All this time he had just thought that this would be better for them, if they just didn’t need to put up with him. But he did really miss them. They had been so important to him when he grew up. All he’d ever wanted was to make sure that they would be proud of him. “Yeah, I really do want to talk to them again.” 

“Then I suggest that you try talking to them again, and then let them decide if you’re a disappointment or not, okay? Because I don’t think they’ll see it that way. You’re still family. If they want to push you away, that’s sad as hell, but then you’ve at least given them a chance.” 

Ross realized she was right. He really did need to give them a chance. It seemed like they did want to talk to him, since they without fail, always sent him a card on special occasions. “I’ll call them when we get back,” Ross promised Ellie. 

Ellie smiled at that. “Good,” Ellie stated, picking up her food again and going back to eating and enjoying the scenery. After they’d finished eating, they packed their things together before continuing with their walk. 

The sun shone brightly on them as they walked. After a while, they turned around as Ellie wanted to visit the actual beach before they left. Once they arrived at the beach back near where they had started, Ellie took her shoes and socks off, rolling up her leggings that she was wearing. She placed the contents of her pockets in Ross’ bag that he had put down on the beach. 

“What are you doing?” Ross asked, even though he knew full well what she was planning on doing. 

“I’m gonna see how warm the water is,” Ellie said, heading directly for the water. Ross saw her tense momentarily before continuing a bit deeper. 

“How is it?” Ross asked. 

“It’s not bad,” Ellie replied, not even turning around to face him as she kept her focus on where her feet were and how the water lapped at them. 

Ross was sure this couldn’t be true. Quickly he also removed his shoes and socks, put his phone in his bag, and followed Ellie into the water. When the water hit him, it wasn’t freezing, but it was far from ‘all right’ like Ellie had said it was. 

“You liar,” Ross said in a fake betrayed tone of voice. Ellie turned around to look at him, a wicked smile in her face. She bent down and scooped up some of the water and threw it at Ross. Ross lifted his arms instinctively to shield himself from the water that was thrown at him. He felt the water droplets soak his clothes, the cold-water making contact with his skin. 

“Oh, you’re going to pay for that,” Ross said with a glint in his eyes. The smile that had been on Ellie’s face vanished quickly. 

“Ross, nooooo. Don’t do this, please. Ross, Ross, Ross! No-” Ellie was cut off. Ross had scooped up some water of his own and thrown it back at Ellie. Ross’ hands were bigger than Ellie’s by quite a bit which helped him to hold more water than Ellie had been able to. She got noticeably more wet than Ross had. 

Ellie gave him a look that told him this meant war. It wasn’t long before the two of them were soaked and chilled to the bone. Teeth chattering, the two made their way up to the car where Ross luckily kept some spare towels. 

They dried themselves off as good as they could, but their clothes were still soaked. Ross and Ellie agreed that the best course of action was to find a nearby shop where they could get some new and dry clothes for the ride home. 

They came across a thrift store where they purchased new dry clothes. There weren’t many things that fitted Ross’ tall stature, so he was more or less forced to settle on a pair of black ripped jeans and a short-sleeved shirt. Ellie had managed to get a hold of a pink knee-length dress that had short, loose fitting sleeves. It was very different from her dark clothes that she normally wore. 

“Don’t say anything about the clothes,” Ellie said before Ross had the chance to even open his mouth. 

“Just as long as you don’t say anything about mine,” Ross replied. 

The two headed back to the car, preparing to go back to Bristol. It was getting rather late. The sun was setting behind the clifftops. Both knew that they would not be getting home before it was pitch-black outside. 

The drive home was mostly done in silence, the two too tired to say much. Ellie mentioned to Ross that she was going away the next day; she was going to Norway to meet her family, and then off higher up in the country to some fjords to do some filming of her travel videos. Her family had apparently planned to go there as a mini vacation, and Ellie thought it was a good a time as any to film a travel vlog. 

Once they got back to Bristol, Ross drove first to Ellie’s place to drop her off. Ross had to wake her, because she had fallen asleep on the drive home. They said their goodbyes before Ross went back to the house he shared with his friends. He stepped through the front door into the silent house. Henry had most likely gone to pack since he was leaving to go and meet Chelsea tomorrow, and James was most likely in his room playing some games in peace and quiet. 

Ross lifted out his phone out of his bag. His thumb hovered over the ‘call’ button for his mum. Ross decided against it, not feeling able to actually press the call button at that time in case she was asleep. Instead, he pressed the text button for his mum. Ross thought about what to write. It was difficult to think about how to start a conversation after not having talked properly for so long. In the end he settled on a short and concise message. 

“Hey, how are you doing? I’m sorry that I haven’t talked in so long.” 

Ross was just about to put away his phone when it started ringing. He looked at the screen and saw that it was his mum calling. Tentatively, he picked up. 

“Hello?” he said into the phone. 

“Hi, Ross. It’s been a while. How are you doing?” the voice on the other side was very cautious, and choosing her words carefully. 

“I’m alright. How are you?” Ross answered, feeling like he was out in foreign waters. He hadn’t seen his mum for well over a year. Did he even know her anymore? 

“I’ve not been too bad,” his mum replied. The two fell into silence, not knowing what to say to one another. It was Ross’ mum that finally broke the silence. 

“Um, your father and I have the rest of the week off. Would you like to come over for a bit?” 

Ross thought about this for a moment. Things were moving rather quickly, but he had really missed his parents. Ellie's words came to mind, her saying that no matter what, he would still be family to them. 

Ross sucked in a deep breath. “Yeah, that sounds nice. Tomorrow then?” 

“Tomorrow is good. We'll see you then,” Ross’ mum replied. 

“See you,” Ross said before hanging up. He checked the time. 11PM. If he was lucky, he could talk to Henry before he fell asleep. 

Ross went up the stairs and to Henry’s bedroom door. He listened, trying to hear if Henry was awake or not. From the other side, Ross could hear the rustling of Henry packing stuff together. Ross knocked carefully on the door. 

“Come in!” He heard Henry reply on the other side. Ross opened the door and walked inside. There was stuff everywhere. It looked like Henry had been packing and practicing his aim at the same time. 

“Hey, Henry. Sorry to disturb you, but I was wondering when you were going to go to the train tomorrow and when you were going to be coming back?” 

“Er, I was planning on leaving at around 8 in the morning tomorrow, I’ll be back in about a week or so. Not quite sure what time. Why do you ask?” 

“I’m going to see my parents tomorrow,” Ross answered. Henry looked surprised at this. He knew that Ross had put off contact with them for so long. “I was thinking that if I drop you off at the station, I can then take the car and go and see them.” 

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Ross was just about to turn around and leave. “Hey, Ross. I’m glad that you’ve finally decided to talk to them again. I think it’ll be good for you.” 

“Well, let’s just see how things go tomorrow before we get ahead of ourselves,” Ross answered, not having much hope for the days to come. Henry nodded in agreement, but the hopeful smile on his face was still there. 

Ross left Henry to pack in peace. He quickly swung past James’s room on his way to his own room to inform James that he was going away to his parents. James was also surprised by this, but supportive of Ross’ decision. 

When Ross arrived in his room, decided to pack some stuff so he could stay there for a few days, in case he decided to stay that long. Once his bag was packed, he crashed on his bed, falling asleep much quicker than he normally would.


	7. Chapter 7

Ross awoke to the horrible sound of his alarm clock going off. At first, Ross didn’t recognize it as the alarm clock in his newly awoken daze. Fumbling around on his bedside table, Ross tried to locate the source of the sound. As he felt his vibrating phone, he realized that it was an alarm clock going off. 

Turning it off, he dragged himself out of his bed with his phone and charger in hand to shove into his bag as last-minute packing. Ross grabbed his towel and headed to the shower. Just as he got inside and locked the door, he could hear a disgruntled Henry on the other side. 

“Snooze ya loose, mate,” Ross teased as he turned the shower on. He at least told himself to make it quick, so that Henry also had time to shower before they left. 

When Ross stepped out of the shower all clean after about ten minutes, Henry darted past him to take his own shower. It amused Ross to see his friend run past him like that. Ross went to his room and got dressed. He almost grabbed the ripped jeans that he had worn yesterday before thinking better of it. 

He put on a formal shirt and a pair of non-ripped jeans instead. He wanted to look his best for his parents. The thought that he would be meeting his parents soon made his heart beat faster, so he tried to push those thoughts away. 

Ross headed down to the kitchen to make himself a bite to eat. It was already getting rather late, so Ross decided to make some sandwiches to take with on the journey. He prepared some for Henry as well, thinking his friend would appreciate a bite to eat on his train journey. 

Ross heard the door to the bathroom open up, signalling that Henry was done with his shower. 

“Ross,” Ross heard Henry call to him from the top of the stairs, “we’ll leave as soon as I’m dressed.” 

“Alright,” Ross said as he bagged the sandwiches. He was just about to put down his sandwiches in his bag, when he realized he had not taken care of the picnic stuff from yesterday. Knowing he didn’t have the time to take care of the stuff before they left, he internally apologized to James before he dumped all of the stuff on the counter to be cleaned and left the picnic blanket on the floor. 

As he heard his friend head down the stairs, Ross quickly shoved his sandwiches into his bag and went to meet his friend by the front door. 

“Here, I wasn’t sure if you’d had time to eat or not,” Ross said as he handed over a bag of cheese and ham sandwiches to his friends. 

“Aww, cheers mate,” Henry thanked happily as he accepted the sandwiches. 

The two quickly threw their shoes on, their bags into the car, and then they drove off to the train station hurriedly, so that Henry wouldn’t miss his train. 

Once they arrived at the station, Henry jumped out of the car and grabbed his bag from the back seat. The train was already at the station, getting ready to depart. 

“Have a good time at your parents, Ross. I hope everything goes well. Keep me updated!” Henry said to his friend as he ran to his train. 

“I will!” Ross shouted back to Henry, hoping that he heard him with the increasing distance between them. He saw Henry board the train just before it pulled away from the station. Ross watched as it left, leaving him on his own in silence. Ross now had an hour and a half drive ahead of him to his parents’ place. An hour and a half on his own, dreading how things would go. 

Getting into the car, Ross hooked up his phone to the car’s radio system and then turned on some music to try and calm him down and distract him a bit during the drive. His thoughts went to Ellie. He assumed she must be on her flight to Norway now, so he wouldn’t be able to call her. ‘It’s okay, Ross. You can do this,’ he told himself as he put the key into the ignition and started the car, pulling out of the parking lot and setting off to see his parents in Wales. 

*** 

Ross arrived at his parents’ place at around twenty to ten. Most of the morning rush hour traffic had died down as he’d started driving, so he had made good time getting there. Looking up from the car, Ross saw the door to his parents’ house in front of him. Taking a deep breath, Ross headed up the front steps to the door and knocked tentatively. 

Ross heard footsteps approaching him from the other side of the door before it opened up to reveal his dad standing there. His expression looked aged from what he remembered. There had surely not been that many lines under his eyes previously, right? His hair looked like he had just cut it; short and almost not there. Ross had always thought his dad had suited longer hair, but understood that his dad mainly kept it shorter because it was easier to maintain. Ross had always been noticeably taller than his parents, but after not seeing them for so long, he felt like he towered over them. 

Ross’ dad looked up to his son’s face and let a smile spread deeply across his face. Ross didn’t think he’d ever seen his dad so happy, not because his dad was normally grumpy, but because the happiness and positivity was overflowing from his dad’s figure more than usual. 

“Ross!” his dad exclaimed as he moved forwards and embraced Ross in an enveloping hug. Ross hugged his dad back, although more out of politeness than enthusiasm. Ross’ dad sensed this and unfolded his arms from Ross. 

“How are you doing, son?” He asked after composing himself. 

“Yeah, not bad,” Ross replied. He heard another set of footsteps approach the front door. His mother’s figure appeared behind his dad. Her expression was also one of a happily surprised nature. Ross guessed that the two of them hadn’t really dared hope that he would actually turn up. That was fair enough. Ross hadn’t been entirely convinced he would either. 

“Oh, my boy!” his mother exclaimed as she stepped forward and gave her son a quick embrace. Ross gave her, like he had given his father, a quick polite hug back. They pulled away from one another, his mum looking at Ross with some tears of happiness starting to form in the corner of her eye. His parents moved to the side, making room for Ross to come inside. 

“Don’t just stand there, come in, come in,” Ross’ mum ushered him into the house, closing the door behind him. 

As Ross looked around the house, he was hit with a wave of nostalgia. This was the place where he’d grown up. The staircase in front of him leading to the second floor was one Ross had climbed many times, sometimes charging up it as a kid when he’d had a friend over to play video games in his room, sometimes stomping up it angrily after a fight with his parents, or sometimes sleepily after a long day out. From the bottom of the stairs, Ross could just about make out the door next to his bedroom which lead to the small bathroom they had up there. 

On the ground floor next to the staircase was his parents’ bedroom. Ross remembered how he would as a kid sneak in there to look around. His parents’ room had always felt like such a foreign place full of mystery when he was younger, so it had always felt like an adventure to seven-year-old Ross to go in there, digging through the boxes of stuff under the bed. 

Under the staircase was a small cupboard where they stored things that weren’t in use at the time. It hadn’t always been packed to the ceiling with things. It had gradually through the years been filled more and more with things that they’d gathered throughout the years. Ross remembered how pissed his parents had been when they’d found him and a friend once inside the cupboard, with all the stuff that had once been inside it strewn across the floor outside of it. 

Further into the house, past the cupboard under the stairs, was the living room/ kitchen. There was a doorway into the kitchen, but no door. His parents had removed it when he was young to give the kitchen the allure of having more room. It was very much needed since the kitchen on its own was very cramped. The dining table was just outside of the kitchen in one end of the living room. It was a small table, since the room didn’t allow for there to be a big one. Between the dining table and the door to the living room was a door was the sofa and TV. As Ross entered the living room with his parents, he noticed that the sofa and TV from his childhood were not there anymore. Instead, the old sofa with the floral patterns he remembered was replaced with a basic three-seated beige sofa, and the old clunky TV they’d had for as long as Ross could remember was gone to be replaced with a more modern one. 

The house far from big, but it was enough for Ross and his parents. They hadn’t needed more since Ross had been an only child. He knew that his parents had wanted more children though. He had seen his mother crying in the living room when they thought he’d gone to sleep. He had actually been camping out in the cupboard under the stairs before it had been filled with way too many things. The memory over his mother crying into his father’s arms over not being able to conceive again was seared into his memory, having never really seen his parents cry before or after that. Remembering it made the guilty feeling in the pit of Ross’ stomach over the fact that he himself didn’t want to have children resurface. Ross tried, and only partially successfully managed to push that feeling away again. 

As Ross walked into the living room, a little Jack Russell terrier ran up to Ross. Ross bent down to greet the little dog. He recognized the terrier as his childhood pet, Harry. He had really missed Harry. Stretching up and standing once more, Ross looked around the room. 

“I see you’ve redecorated,” Ross remarked as he took a seat on the new sofa. It did feel better than the old one. The old one, as he remembered it, had springs that had come through the stuffing, so you could feel them when you sat down. 

“Yeah, the old sofa finally broke. The springs actually came through the fabric. As for the TV, well, we just thought it was time to get something new,” Ross’ mum explained. She went into the kitchen and turned the kettle on to make the three of them some tea. Ross’ dad sat next to him in the sofa. There wasn’t a lot of space, so they had to squeeze together so that there would be space for Ross’ mum when she came with the tea. 

Ross’ mum handed one cup to Ross and one to her husband before going back to the kitchen and fetching her own one and then sitting down on the sofa, cramming Ross in the middle of his parents. 

Ross felt awkward being so close to his parents when he hadn’t spoken to them for over a year. He could tell from their stiff statures that they also were unsure what to do in the situation. It was his mum that broke the silence in the end. 

“So, how have you been? How’s life living on your own?” His mum asked. 

“I’ve been pretty good. Work’s been going well as well. We’ve been gaining popularity lately and recently we even did a collaboration with another YouTuber. As for living on my own, well, I can’t really say I’m living on my own since I live with James and Henry, but it’s nice to be living with them.” 

“Ah, yes. Of course. How are your friends doing?” 

“They’re doing well. James’s his regular self, and Henry’s gotten a girlfriend.” 

His mum looked surprised at that, although Ross understood why. They really hadn’t heard much of what had been going on in his life for the past year. 

“Oh, that’s wonderful news. When did this happen?” 

“It was about the time that I moved away,” Ross answered. The three of them talked a bit more about how Ross had been and what had been going on for the three of them during the time they hadn’t talked. Ross felt himself settle into the situation more and more and the unease in his body started to fade away. 

They decided to have a nice day in and just talk and catch up. Tomorrow they would go out for a trip to an area called the Mumbles to see the castle and the sea. Ross felt like this was a good idea. He was pretty exhausted. Not physically, but mentally. After all the worrying and stressing about seeing his parents, his mind felt like it just needed a rest. 

Ross went up to his old room to rest for a bit. He opened the door to his old room. It was exactly the way he’d left it. It made Ross wonder if his parents had ever lent it out to a guest coming over or not. 

Pulling the covers back, Ross got into the bed and laid down for a bit, alone with his thoughts again. He knew that he needed to talk to his parents about himself. He figured it would be better to do it sooner rather than later; if only to save him the heartache of getting closer to them only to have them push him away as soon as they found out about him and his lack of desires. At least they seemed to be okay with his job. Although, that could have just been because they had been happy to see him again. 

A ping from Ross’ phone signalled the arrival of a text message. He looked at the screen to see that Ellie had messaged him. “Hey, thought I'd let you know that I've arrived safely at my destination in Norway. Hope that everything goes well with your parents. I’ll keep you updated as long as you promise to do the same.” 

Ross typed a quick reply back to her, “Glad to hear that you arrived safely. I'm at my parents now, but we haven’t talked about me yet, gonna do that soon though. We're about to have lunch now and tomorrow we’ll have a day out together.” Ross hit send before lowering his phone down again. 

“Lunch is ready!” His mum called up the stairs. Ross raised his body off the bed like the many times he’d done before. Swinging his legs over the side, Ross stood up and made his way down to the dining table. As he arrived in the room, he saw his mum place a bowl of mixed salad on the table. A plate of sliced chicken breast was already next to it. 

Ross pulled out the chair he normally sat on as a kid and sat down next to his dad. His mum took her seat opposite Ross and then the three of them tucked into their meals. The chatter at the table was light. They were discussing the specifics of what they were going to do the next day. Ross chimed in now and then, but mainly he was lost in his own thoughts. He was trying to formulate in his head how to bring up the discussion with his parents; how best to talk about it. In the end he decided that it was best to be upfront about it with them. That way there was less room for misunderstandings. 

After lunch, Ross helped with the dishes, mustering courage for the talk ahead. He turned to face his parents who were just finishing off cleaning the table. 

“Hey, mum, dad,” Ross heard himself say, “I feel like I need to talk to you about something.” Ross felt how his heart started pounding harder and harder in his chest. His parents looked up from the table with a worried expression. The three of them sat down at the table. Ross sucked in another breath before continuing the talk. 

“I know that the two of you have always wanted grandchildren, but I- I don’t know if I can give you that,” Ross managed to get out. The saddened look his parents gave was enough for Ross to feel that his suspicions had been right. He knew it had been the right idea to push them away. 

“Ross...” his mum tried to start, but she didn’t get anywhere before Ross continued. 

“I’m sorry. I really don’t think I could ever handle a kid, but I know how you look at them,” he gave a little fake laugh in a failed attempt to lighten the mood. “I don’t think I could even handle the way you make a child.” This earned him a perplexed look from his parents. 

“I’m asexual. I don’t feel the attraction to others nor the need to do those things with others.” Ross looked at his parents and saw their confused and saddened looks. “I’m sorry. I know I’ve just been a disappointment in your lives. I won’t give you kids, I won’t go for a stable job...” Ross paused himself, trying to control the sadness that was starting to take over. “Coming here was a bad idea. Maybe I should just go.” 

Ross pushed himself silently up from the table, he turned around and started to head towards the front door. A hand grabbing his arm stopped him in his tracks. Ross turned around to see his mother staring at him with tear-filled eyes. 

“The only thing I’m disappointed in is that you didn’t think that we’d accept you, no matter what.” It was now Ross’ turn to look confused. Ross saw from the corner of his eye his dad rise to his feet and walk around the table to join him. 

“Of course, we love kids, and we’d be happy if we were to become grandparents, but that doesn’t mean that we have to become grandparents. We'll love you no matter what you decide to do. We still loved and cared about you when you left to do that YouTube thing. We know you’re happy doing it. No matter what, you’re still our son and we can’t be prouder of where you’ve come in life.” 

Ross felt the sheer joy of being accepted fill him over the brim. He couldn’t help but smile and let a couple of tears of happiness spill from his eyes. His parents moved closer and hugged him tightly, with Ross finally properly returning the hug, hugging his parents even tighter than they were hugging him. Minutes past before they finally pulled away from one another. 

His mum was the first one to speak after the silence. “Was this why we didn’t hear anything from you after you moved? Because you were worried we’d be disappointed in you?” 

Ross shamefully nodded as his only answer. “Oh, sweetie,” his mum said as she pulled him in for another hug. “Don’t ever push us away like that again. We missed you so much.” 

Ross hugged her back, leaning down to place his head on her shoulder. “I won’t. I promise. I’m so sorry I did it in the first place.” 

Ross felt more at peace after the talk, and like he could trust his parents more. The only regret he had was that he hadn’t talked to them sooner and wished he’d trusted them. As the evening came around, they decided to get a take away and watch a film so as to take it easy. Being as close to the sea as they were, the fish and chips you got in Swansea were really good, so that’s what they decided to pick up. 

The film they settled on was a romcom, one of his mum’s favourites. Halfway through the film, there was a scene where the two leads were starting to get rather intimate. Ross felt awkward watching it, especially with his parents. His dad noticed his son’s discomfort and proceeded to skip through that part of the film. “I don’t think that scene really adds anything to the film, anyway,” his dad said out loud, justifying why he’d skipped part of the film. Internally, Ross was thankful to his dad for skipping it. 

As the darkness fell upon the city, Ross and his parents decided to go to bed for the day. After such an early start and the emotionally exhausting day he’d had, Ross also felt ready to go to sleep. Just before Ross fell asleep, he managed to text Ellie. “I had the talk today with them. It went better than expected.” Ross didn’t even have time to turn the screen of his phone off before his eyes were closed and he was off to dreamland.


	8. Chapter 8

There was a knock on the door, which arose Ross from his slumber. “Come in,” Ross replied as he sat himself up in his bed. The door opened and revealed his mum standing there. 

“Hi, sweetie, I just wanted to let you know that your father and I are planning on eating breakfast together now. Would you like to join us?” Hearing her strong Welsh accent made Ross realize how much of his accent he’d lost when he’d moved to Bristol. 

“Yeah, that would be nice,” Ross said as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. The door to his room closed, giving him privacy as he got ready to go downstairs. Ross rooted through the bag he’d brought with and found some clothes that were suitable for going out with his parents. 

Ross hurried down the stairs to join them for breakfast. It felt weird to Ross, both to be up as early he was, and that things were going well with his parents. As he arrived in the living room, he saw that his parents were waiting for him. Harry barked at him from inside the kitchen by his food bowls, his tail wagging furiously. Ross gave him a little wave as he sat down by the table. On the table was some toast and stuff to make sandwiches. A couple different types of cereal were available as well. 

Reaching forward, Ross took a couple of slices of toast and proceeded to put some butter and ham on them. Breakfast was rather silent. Ross had never been a morning person and normally took some time before he became social. 

After they’d eaten, they all got ready to leave for the Mumbles. Harry came with them, riding in the back with Ross in the small car that his parents owned. Harry crawled over to Ross’ lap, not being overly fond of car journeys. Ross held Harry close, making sure Harry felt reassured. Luckily it wasn’t a long ride to where they were going. Within ten minutes they arrived at the seaside. 

Once Ross opened the car door, Harry happily jumped out. Ross followed as he stepped into the familiar parking lot by the beach, with Oystermouth Castle standing tall behind him. Ross and his family made their way down to the beach, with Ross picking up a stick as they walked along. 

“It’s been a while since I last came here,” Ross remarked as he started throwing the stick for Harry to chase. 

“Yeah, I think the last time was about three years ago. You used to come here all the time in the summer,” His dad said, reminiscing about the times he used to take Ross here in the summer heat. They'd often had barbeques on the beach as well. That was what they were going to do today for lunch. They'd packed some sausages and burgers and a single use grill. 

Ross smiled, remembering the times he’d come here. It had been a popular place to go with his friends when they’d learnt how to drive. It was far enough away from the main city to feel like an adventure, but still close enough for them to easily be able to do it in a day. Ross remembered that he’d even brought Henry and James out here once when they’d first started recording together. 

They walked along a bit in silence, enjoying the slight breeze in the heat of the sun. Ross’ mum had now taken over and started throwing the stick for Harry to chase. It felt good, being able to come out and stay with his parents a while. 

“Son,” Ross heard his dad start, “I was wondering about this asexual business of yours. How did you figure out that’s what you were?” 

Ross pondered how to answer the question a while, thinking how best to answer it. “Well, I think I figured it out when no matter how many relationships I'd been in, I never felt like I wanted to be... intimate with any of them. It took time to figure out what it was though.” 

“Is this why you don’t want children?” 

“No, I don’t want children because I just don’t want children. I don’t have to get intimate with someone to have a child. I could just adopt. No, the reason I don’t want children is because I just don’t feel like that’s something I want in life. I don’t feel like I could care for one and be happy at the same time.” 

Ross’ dad pulled Ross in for a half hug, slinging his arm around Ross’ shoulder. “Then I’m glad that you’ve decided you won’t have children just for our sake. The most important thing for us is your happiness.” 

Ross smiled at that, returning the half hug by slinging his own arm around his dad. The three of them continued on their walk down towards the pier. Harry had stopped bringing the stick back to be thrown again. Instead, he Henryed happily with it in his mouth beside Ross’ mum. Once they got to the pier, they walked out on it, getting a good view of Swansea bay. Just as they were admiring the view, Ross felt his pocket start to vibrate. Pulling his phone up, he saw that it was Ellie calling him, wanting to video chat. 

He looked to his parents, wondering if it was okay for him to pick up the call. 

“Go, ahead son. It’s fine,” Ross’ mum answered before Ross even had the time to ask. Ross pressed answer and saw Ellie’s face staring back at him. 

“Hi, Ross. I hope I’m not disturbing anything,” Ellie said as she saw Ross’ face appear on her screen, “I just wanted to show you a little bit of Norway.” 

Ellie turned her phone to the side, revealing the landscape behind her. Ross’ mouth hung open as he saw the mountains behind her, rising high into the sky. They were mostly a vibrant green with snowy white peaks. At their feet wasn’t land, but bays of water. The water was still and a deep blue, reflections of the tall mountains shimmering on the surface. On the land closest to Ellie, Ross could see flowers with many different colours scattering the ground. 

“It’s so beautiful. Do your parents live there?” Ross asked, admiring the beautiful scenery behind Ellie. Ellie giggled slightly at Ross’ question. 

“No, they don’t. They live in a town a little bit away, and could only dream of living in such a place. What are you currently up to?” 

Ross decided it was his turn to show Ellie some beautiful scenery. He rotated his phone, showing Ellie the views from the end of the pier of the Mumbles and Swansea bay. When he finally turned the phone back so he could see the screen once more, he saw Ellie’s widened eyes with a joyful sparkle in them. 

“Can we go there one day?” She asked when she saw Ross’ face return to the screen. 

“I don’t see why not. This is, by the way, the area I pointed out for you during our picnic the other day.” 

“Ooooh, Swansea. Are your parents currently with you then?” Ellie curiously asked. 

Ross angled his phone camera, to capture his parents in the picture behind him, standing at the end of the pier. 

“They’re right there,” Ross said, pointing them out. His parents caught sight of him pointing at them and waved at the camera, making their way over to Ross. Ellie happily waved back at them. 

“Mum, dad, this is a new friend of mine from Bristol, Ellie. Ellie, this is my mum, Sharon, and my dad, Henry,” Ross said, introducing them to one another. 

“Nice to meet you, Ellie,” Ross’ mum said, smiling at Ellie on the other end of the phone. 

“Likewise,” Ellie said to Ross’ parents. 

Ross heard someone on the other end speak to Ellie, saying something in Norwegian. Ellie turned to look at the source of the sound, off camera and replied, saying something Ross didn’t understand. She turned back to look at Ross and his parents. 

“Sorry, I need to go now. We're going to continue our drive around the fjord. I’ll talk to you later. I hope the three of you continue to have a nice day out together.” 

“That’s okay. I hope you also have a nice time. I’ll talk to you later,” Ross replied, waving goodbye to Ellie. Ellie quickly waved back at him before she ended the call. Putting his phone back in his pocket, Ross turned back his attention to his parents. 

“Right, should we head back to where we came from, and go and look at the castle?” Ross suggested. 

His parents agreed, and they set off back along the beach, towards the castle where they’d parked the car. They explored the castle like the three of them used to do when Ross had been younger. The castle was 900 years old. It was something about old buildings that had always fascinated Ross. That was why he liked the old church back in Bristol as much as he did. 

As they left the castle, they headed to the car where they’d left the food and barbeque. Gathering the things, they made their way back down to the beach to find a nice spot to set up the barbeque. 

Ross was thankful for the food they made. The long walk they’d taken had really built up his appetite. As Ross ate his sausage, he noticed Harry was getting closer and closer to him, asking for a bit of his own to eat with round, pitiful eyes. Ross broke off a piece of his sausage, making sure there was no ketchup on it, and handed it to Harry, who gratefully accepted the food. 

“Be careful, love. The next thing you know he’ll have eaten your whole sausage,” him mum warned him. Ross laughed a bit at his mum’s warning, but deep inside, he knew it was true. Harry had a special talent for begging for food. 

“Ross, I have some questions about asexuality, if you’re okay with answering them,” Ross’ mum said, lowering her food down onto the paper plate she had. 

“Yeah, of course. Ask away. I prefer that you ask questions instead of assuming.” 

“Well, what is asexuality? Is that when you just don’t want to have sex with anyone?” Ross’ mum asked bluntly. It made Ross feel slightly uncomfortable. Ross’ mum had always been pretty straightforward about things, but Ross had never really learnt how to deal with it since he had always been a very private person; especially around his parents. 

“Well, for me that’s the case. I don’t feel like I want to... do that with anyone, but that doesn’t mean all asexuals feel that way. Some asexuals feel like they want that closeness with other people, but they just lack the feeling of being... er... attracted to people in that intimate way.” 

“So, some asexuals want sexual gratification, but don’t feel sexually attracted to other people?” 

“To put it blumtly, yeah,” Ross mumbled. 

“But that’s not how you feel? You don’t want anything to do with sex at all?” 

Ross just nodded, hoping that these kinds of questions would go over to something he could more easily handle soon. He was at least glad they weren’t just assuming things about him, at least. 

“Have you ever met anyone else who’s asexual?” His dad asked, seeing that his son was uncomfortable. 

“No, I haven’t actually,” Ross answered. It made him start thinking. Of course, there would logically be other asexuals out there, and according to the articles he’d been reading approximately one in a hundred people were on the asexual scale, but he’d never thought that people around him would be asexual. What if one of his friends was asexual, and he’d just never known about it? 

It was Harry putting his small paws on Ross’ his leg that brought him out of thought. He looked down at Harry just in time. Harry was just about to steal Ross’ sausage from him, his drooling mouth open and closing in on the succulent meat. Ross was just quick enough to put his sausage out of Harry’s reach before his jaw snapped shut in the air where the food had just been. A small, sad whimper came from Harry as he realized that he had just missed the food. 

They finished their food, giving Harry a few scraps to keep him happy and then packed their things and headed back. Ross decided to stay the night before heading back to the house he shared with his friends. There was still a fair bit of work to be done there, and it was unfair to leave it all to James to do. 

*** 

Getting up in the morning the next day, Ross had some breakfast with his parents before saying goodbye to them, but promising to come back and visit again soon, and definitely not cut off contact with them again. Ross got into the car, waved at his parents and Harry standing in the doorway, and then proceeded to back out of the driveway and start his drive back to Bristol. 

Heading back towards Bristol, Ross felt much more at ease than he had felt on his way out. He was thankful that Ellie had talked him into going to see them again. Ross decided to call Henry, since his friend had asked him to keep him updated on how things had gone. Henry picked up on the other ended and the two chatted to one another about their days throughout the whole drive back home.


	9. Chapter 9

A few days had past now since he’d gotten back from Swansea. James and him had done a lot of editing of videos whilst Henry was gone. Henry was back now though, after Ross had gone out earlier that day to pick him up from the train station. They were scheduled to film another bulk for their Minecraft series today. 

‘Soon Ellie will be back from her trip as well,’ Ross thought to himself. Ross had been feeling a bit jealous of her trip. She had been sending him pictures of her on top of mountains, taking ferry rides around the fjords, and even a video of her going for a ride on the Atlantic Ocean Road. Ellie had at least promised him that next time she went to Norway, he could come with, and she would show him the places she’d gone to. 

The two of them were planning on meeting up once Ellie came back from Norway. They were planning on having a movie night together. Ross had been trying to think up some good films that Ellie might like. There were some good action films that they had talked about watching and then there was a new science fiction one that had been added to Netflix recently that Ross had been thinking about watching recently. 

Ross heard his phone receive a text, he felt his heart flutter slightly, hoping it was Ellie. Looking at his screen he saw that it was. Ross quickly opened the screen and read the text. 

“Hi, Ross. I’m back home now, but I’m absolutely exhausted. Should we meet up in the evening for a movie night?” 

Ross quickly typed back his reply, confirming he would be there in the evening. It was still morning, so there was time until they were going to meet up. Looking up from his phone, he noticed that none of his friends had woken up yet. It was still rather early in the morning for them. He figured the recording could wait a little while, and if they weren’t up in a couple of hours, he’d go and wake them up. 

Luckily for Ross, he didn’t have to wait long. As he was eating breakfast whilst watching the telly, the other two emerged. Being away and not having to work late into the night had meant the three of them had a somewhat normal sleeping routine at the moment. That was bound to change as work picked up the pace again. 

Recording took a few hours to do. Once it was done, it was lunch time. James made them some simple baked potatoes with fillings he had bought whilst Ross and Henry were away. Ross cut his potato in half, filling one end with cheese, and the other end with some prawn cocktail. 

After they were done eating, Ross went up to his room to rest for a bit. It didn’t take long before he started missing Ellie, wondering how her trip had been. They would surely discuss more details when he went over to her place later that day. Bringing up his phone, he quickly opened Facebook and started browsing through Ellie’s photos. She looked really pretty. Somehow even prettier than when he’d first started to get to know her. Ellie had also been so important in helping him sort things out in his life, just like James and Henry had been. 

Ross started to wonder how his life would have been without Ellie there. Even though they’d only known each other for a couple of months, he couldn’t imagine a life without her there. 

‘Maybe I should ask her out, not just as a friend, but as more than that?’ Ross thought to himself. 

As Ross was thinking about the possibility of being in a relationship with Ellie, a thought struck him; what if Ellie wasn’t also asexual? The thought made Ross panic a bit. He had gotten so close to her recently, and he really didn’t feel like he could handle any bad news from her. 

Ross lead his thoughts elsewhere, remembering his past with Ellie, like the time when he had met up with Ellie, and Henry had walked in on them with that ridiculous leotard. The picture seemed to spark something in his memory. It felt like it was a missing link. Ross walked out of his room and into Henry’s room. 

“Hey, Henry. Those pictures from MineCon, can I have a look at them?” 

“Yeah, sure,” Henry said as he got off his spot on the bed. He grabbed his phone off the bedside table and flicked through it, finding the pictures, before handing it over to Ross for him to look at. 

He scanned each picture, looking at all the details he could see, trying to find some clue as to why he felt like he recognized Ellie. 

As he reached the tenth picture of him being a drunken idiot, he saw it. There, in the background of the picture, was someone who looked a lot like Ellie. He zoomed in on that point to try and see it clearer. It helped a little. The quality wasn’t great, but that was definitely Ellie in the picture. 

Ross felt things click as he vaguely remembered that night slightly, before he had gotten way too drunk. They had absolutely met before. Him and Ellie had seen one another at the convention. They'd had their stalls next to one another and had then started talking to each other and had hung out together for a bit at the after party. 

‘Shit,’ Ross thought to himself as he remembered the events that had taken place. 

“What’s wrong, Ross?” Henry asked, seeing his friend’s expression change. 

Ross turned the phone around, showing Henry the picture. Ross felt like he had been betrayed, even though this really shouldn’t have been a big deal. It must have been the fact that she had lied to him when they first really started talking. It made Ross start to doubt if anything she had told him was even true to start with. 

Henry’s expression changed from one of confusion at the new revelation, to one of surprise, and finally, a caring worry. It was then that Ross noticed that tears were sliding down his face. He quickly wiped them away as if in doing so, Henry would never have noticed in the first place that he was crying. 

Ross had no idea what to do with this new information. He knew that he needed to do something at least. 

Ross threw himself down the stairs, and was just about to pick up the car keys, before he thought better of it and decided against driving in such an emotional state. 

He flung the front door open and went out into the outside. Not having a direction in mind, Ross just started walking hastily. After a few minutes of walking, he realized that his feet were leading him to Castle Park. It was a place Ross often went to when he felt he needed to get away for a bit. There was a secluded spot under some trees, behind the church that Ross would often retreat to. 

It was getting rather late when Ross arrived at the park. Most of the crowd that normally filled the area was gone. Ross hurried through the park to his secret place behind the church. As he sat down, memories flooded his mind of Ellie. The two of them had spent a fair bit of time in this park, admiring the scenery it offered. She didn’t live far from here. 

Ross shook those thoughts from his mind and wiped away the newly formed tears in his eyes. This was his place. He wouldn’t let her take it from him. Looking at the grass around him and the leaves that hanged down to his head, Ross tried to get his thoughts straight. He didn’t manage so well before his phone pinged with the sound of a notification. 

Thinking it was Henry and James wondering why he had suddenly darted out of the house, he pulled it out of his pocket and unlocked the screen. He felt his heart sink when he saw who had messaged him. It was Ellie. 

“Hey, Ross. What time do you think you’ll be coming round?” It read. ‘Shit,’ Ross thought to himself as he reread the message. He had forgotten that he’d made plans with her for the evening. He couldn’t ignore her. Ross pressed the dial button on Ellie’s contact in his phone and waited for her to pick up. It didn’t take long before he heard her cheery voice on the other end. 

“Hi, Ross, so nice to hear from you again, but you know just a simple yes or no response to my text would have sufficed,” Ellie sang to him from the other end. Ross was silent. He had no idea how to start this. 

“Ross? Is something wrong?” Ellie asked, all the cheer drained from her voice. 

“I remember you,” Ross finally got out. Now it was Ellie’s turn to be completely silent. Ross couldn’t actually remember a time before this that she had been this quiet. 

“You lied to me. You said we hadn’t met before,” Ross said as emotionless as he could. It was difficult though. As soon as he had let someone get so close to him, they had betrayed him. Maybe he had been right to push all those other people away before. Maybe it was right to push her away as well, so he couldn’t be hurt anymore. 

“Ross, I can explain,” Ellie said desperately. 

“I don’t want to hear more lies. We’re done,” Ross told her as he moved the phone away from his ear. 

“No, wait! Ross I can ex-” Ross hung up before she could finish the sentence. He'd had enough. It hurt too much being lied to like this. It made him doubt everything that he knew about Ellie. Ross knew that his reaction was very strong, but he just felt so fragile after having never felt able to get romantically close to anyone before and after how Jake and Paul had treated him once they’d found out he was asexual. And Jenny... Ellie would probably do the same to him if she knew, Ross tried to reason. 

The tears were flowing freely now and Ross didn’t even try to hide them anymore. He curled up against the church and cried into his knees. Why couldn’t things just be easier? He cursed his asexuality. If only he hadn’t been asexual, he might never have pushed away so many people, he wouldn’t have had to live in fear of what people had thought of him and he wouldn’t have been mocked. He felt a sudden longing for the two people that he had let in and that didn’t hate him; Henry and James. 

Through his sobs, Ross could hear footsteps approaching him. Ross tried to gather himself and make himself respectable for the stranger approaching him. Easier said than done though. Tears were still falling freely, Ross’ eyes were bright red from the crying, and his clothes were all wet. 

“Hey, Ross, mate. You okay?” It was definitely Henry’s voice. Ross looked up at his friend with his tear-stricken face. Next to Henry was James. Ross felt so relieved seeing his friends. 

“Not really, no,” Ross sobbed to his friends. Henry and James helped Ross to his feet. Ross grabbed a hold of his friends. “I’m sorry for running off suddenly. I shouldn’t have just left like that,” Ross apologised to his friends. 

James and Henry held him close. “Don’t worry about that, Ross. Why don’t we go back to the flat and we can talk more there,” Henry said to his friend in a friendly, but charge-taking tone. 

Ross just nodded as the three of them made their way home. there was silence as they walked. When they got to their house, the three of them made their way into the living room, where the friends sat down on the sofa together. Ross was still crying, but nowhere near as much as he had been when Henry and James had found him. 

Henry and James waited patiently for their friend to start the conversation. After a few minutes, Ross finally opened his mouth. 

“I called Ellie. Told her that I remembered where I’d met her before. I said I'd had enough of the lies.” 

“Did she explain why she lied in the first place?” James asked. 

Ross shook his head. “I’ve had enough of the lies. Most likely she’d just make up some reason to do what she’d done. I mean, should I trust her?” 

“It’s possible she had a reason for what she did,” James explained. 

“I can’t take that risk. I don’t want to risk being hurt...” Ross trailed off. 

His friends tried their best to comfort him as much as possible. As the evening dragged on, Henry and Ross had set up and started to play some DayZ together. It was a nice distraction to just play some games together with his friends. James had gone out to get them some takeaway. 

James was back after about 40 minutes carrying some boxes. James had gone to the local Indian restaurant to fetch them some food. Ross felt indifferent to the food. Normally he would be happy over Indian since it was one of his favourites, but today he just couldn’t muster himself to feel excited about anything. 

“Food’s here, guys,” James announced as he shut the front door behind him. Henry and Ross got up off the sofa, with Henry getting up much faster than Ross. They headed over to the dining table where James set down the food. 

Henry made a detour into the kitchen to get some plates and cutlery for the three of them. Once all the food was unpacked and served onto their plates, the three started to eat their meal. Ross didn’t tuck himself in hungrily like the other two people did. He mainly pushed the food around on his plate, taking a bite here and there. 

Once the other two were done eating, Ross gave up on trying to eat anymore. He helped the other two clear the table before going up to his room to be alone. He felt like he needed to be alone for a bit to try and sort out his emotions. 

Ross didn’t even bother to pull back the duvet before he collapsed into his bed, feeling maybe his reaction had been rather strong, but after only recently feeling like he could properly trust people, this came as a big blow. 

The ringtone of his phone started to play from his pocket. Pulling up, Ross saw the it was Ellie trying to contact him. He quickly swiped to reject the call and then turned his phone off, not wanting to be disturbed anymore. 

Turning over, Ross fell into a restless sleep, his mind swimming with the memories of today, and the party at the Minecon event. 

*** 

Ross’ eyes flew open as he awoke. The nightmares that he had managed to shake for the past month had returned. Sweating, Ross reached for his phone to check the time. He turned it on as he headed to the bathroom for a cool shower. As the screen shone bright in his face, Ross saw that it was three in the morning. 

Turning the water on to a cool temperature, Ross placed his phone on top of the bathroom cabinet. His phone started to vibrate with messages. He glanced down at his phone and saw that a vast majority of them were from Ellie. 

Ross wanted to pick his phone up and answer them, but knew that it would be best for him to stand his ground. He did still feel like he couldn’t trust her. 

Rinsing the sweat from his body, Ross felt more at ease. most of the images from last night’s dreams were fading from his memory. But there was one that stuck with him. He had dreamt that he was at the convention and chatting with Ellie at the after party. It felt like it was more than a dream, like it was memories resurfacing. Ross wracked his brain, trying to remember the other parts of the memory, but it was already fading quickly. There was no use trying to recollect it. 

Stepping out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around him, Ross decided to head downstairs and grab a small bite to eat. His appetite had returned to remind him that he had barely eaten anything the day before. He toasted some toast which he then buttered and put ham and cheese on top of. 

Ross retreated to his room, where he didn’t risk encountering his friends in only a towel. Piling as many pillows as he could up behind him, Ross curled up in under his duvet with his laptop, starting up a game to play and take his mind off of things. Skyrim was the game he chose. It was a game he found he could lose himself in for hours, which was exactly what he needed right then and there. 

After a few hours, he heard thumping out on the landing, signalling that one of his friends had woken up. A phone started to ring down stairs, but Ross ignored it, not really feeling up to talking to anyone at that moment. Footsteps heading downstairs signalled that either Henry or James was answering the phone. 

He heard James’s voice talking on the phone downstairs. It was muffled, but distinctively James. James wasn’t on the phone for long. As the talking stopped, he heard James head up the stairs once more. 

‘Odd. I'd have thought he’d go to the kitchen to grab a bite to eat,’ Ross thought to himself as he listened to his friend’s footsteps drag closer. They stopped outside of Ross’ door to be replaced with the sound of James knocking. 

“Come in,” Ross said, feeling confused by the situation. It was a Saturday, so there wouldn’t be any work-related calls now, also those talks would normally wait until he emerged from his room. 

James opened the door gently, and stepped into Ross’ room. The expression on his face was a serious one with a saddened hint in his eyes. Ross immediately put his computer to the side and focused on his friend. 

“That was the hospital calling,” immediately Ross could feel the panic in him rise, “Ellie was in an accident last night. She wanted to talk to you, but they were unable to reach you on your mobile.” 

Ross felt his world shatter followed by waves of guilt. ‘Why the fuck did I turn my phone off? I should never have done that. I should have just answered her calls. Fuck, fuck, fuck!’ 

“Is she okay?! Is she...?” Ross couldn’t bring himself to finish the question. 

“She’s alive. She's been admitted and she’s there now.” 

Ross leapt out of bed, almost forgetting that he had still not put any clothes on, and making a quick grab at the towel that was sliding off his form. He rushed over to his wardrobe, pulling out the first clothes that he could see. Right now, nothing mattered more than going to see her. 

“Do you want me to drive you there?” James offered. They could both tell that Ross was in no state to be behind the wheel. Ross nodded as he pulled his T-shirt on over his head, the towel neatly wrapped and tucked on around his waist. James left the room and shut the door, giving his friend some privacy as he finished getting dressed. 

Ross was out and waiting for James by the door within minutes. James grabbed the keys to the car, put his shoes on, and then went off to the car with Ross, heading to the hospital as quickly as he could safely manage. James had told Ross which ward Ellie had been admitted to during the ride, knowing his friend would want to get there as soon as possible. 

Once the car had stopped moving, Ross flew out of it and headed towards the entrance, leaving James behind to pay for the parking. Once inside, Ross went over to the reception for directions to the ward. The receptionist explained them quickly to him before Ross moved to the elevators, heading upwards and deeper into the building, his heart pounding in his ears. 

Once the elevator arrived at his floor, Ross darted out of it before the doors even had a chance to fully open. Big, electric doors opened for him as he walked into the ward. Once inside, he noticed there was another reception on the ward, although this one was specifically for the ward. Ross headed determinedly over to the receptionist sitting by her desk. 

“Hello there. How can I help you today?” The receptionist asked as she saw Ross come up to the desk. 

“Hello, I’m here to see Ellie Larsen. She was admitted here last night.” Ross said, pulling out his ID to show who he was. 

“Ah, yes. Ross. She’s in room 13, furthest down in the corridor,” The woman said, handing Ross’ ID back to him. 

“Thank you,” Ross said before walking as quickly as he could to where Ellie was. Arriving at the door, Ross stood still, before knocking carefully. He waited, impatiently for about a minute, for an answer. When it was clear he wasn’t going to get one, Ross gently pushed the door to the room open. 

Inside, he saw Ellie laying in the centre of the white room. She was hooked up to an IV going into her left arm. There was also a machine with a giant syringe attached to it, pumping a clear substance into her body. There was a display on the machine, but that made no sense to Ross. 

A cast covered Ellie’s right arm almost completely, and another cast enveloped her right leg. As Ross drew close to her, he could see that her eyes were closed and her breathing was shallow. Her face was full of scrapes and blossoming purple bruises. The hospital had done their best to cover the scrapes with plasters, but there were still some smaller ones visible. 

Ross felt himself almost choke on his breath at the sight of her. She looked so pale, so broken. It didn’t feel like this was the same person at all. Ellie was such a strong person; how could she now be in such a state? 

Taking a seat next to Ellie, Ross lay a hand carefully on Ellie’s, making sure that he didn’t touch any of her injuries. This all felt so surreal, like it was some kind of sick joke or a dream he would wake up from any minute now. 

A silent tear trickled slowly down the side of his cheek. Why couldn’t he have just stopped being an idiot for once in his life? For once in his life not just pushed someone away as soon as they started to get close to him? 

Ross heard the door open and turned around to see who it was coming in. It was James. 

“Fuck, James...” Ross said, feeling so desperate to just know that everything would be okay. 

James walked over to his friend, taking a seat next to him and laying a comforting arm around Ross, which Ross appreciated greatly. The three sat there in silence, not knowing what to say about the situation. The only thing that momentarily disturbed it was James sending a text. Most likely a message to Henry, explaining what was going on. 

The silence was finally properly broken when a doctor walked through the door with a nurse in tow, the two of them wearing the same hospital standard scrubs. 

“Hello, I’m Dr. Carlson,” The doctor said, offering her hand to both Ross and James. 

“I’m nurse Day,” The nurse said, introducing herself after Ross and James had finished shaking Dr. Carlson’s hand. Ross and James quickly presented themselves in return. 

“Are you two relatives of miss Larsen?” The doctor asked. 

“No, we’re just her friends,” Ross answered. “Could you please tell me what happened? And please, just be straightforward about it. No need to try and soften the blow or anything,” Ross asked of the doctor. 

The doctor looked as Ross for a minute, as if she were trying to study him for a bit to make sure he could handle the news put bluntly, before going ahead and giving him the information, he wanted. 

“As you most likely already know, miss Larsen was in an accident last night. A car hit her as she was crossing the road. As a result, she has suffered multiple fractures, a concussion, and quite a few cuts and bruises. All things considered though, she’s lucky. The car was going rather fast according to eye witnesses, she’s lucky to still be with us.” 

“Is she in a coma?” Ross questioned, swallowing a lump in his throat. 

“No, she isn’t. But her body needs a lot of rest at the moment to give it time to heal. If she’s sleeping it’s best to let her do so. “ 

Ross nodded, turning his gaze back to Ellie. She looked so peaceful, despite all the cuts and bruises, but at the same time, she looked so broken. Ross hoped that she would wake up soon, so that he could see that she would be okay. He imagined she would tell him that he was silly for worrying so much and that not even a car would be able to keep her down for long. The thought was comforting. 

The doctor was continuing talking, but it all faded into the background for Ross. All he could keep his mind focused on was Ellie’s eyes, willing them to open soon, even though deep down he knew that she needed the sleep. 

The door closing in the room prompted Ross to turn around only to see that the doctor and the nurse had left. 

“Did they say anything about how long she needed to be here?” Ross asked James. 

“They said she would at least need to stay the next couple of days,” James answered. 

He tried his best to control the anger that was rising in him. He felt anger towards the reckless person who had hit her in the first place, but also towards himself. 

If he had gone over to Ellie’s like they’d planned, she would most likely not have gone out that night. She would most likely have been saved all this if he had just let her talk, explain her side of things. 

The time dragged on. James went back to the house, to fill Henry in on what was going on. He’d promised to come and pick Ross up once the visiting hours were over. Ross looked at the clock hanging on the wall. It was soon time to leave, and Ellie had yet to open her eyes. 

Ross’ gaze fell to the floor. Maybe it was wrong of him to be here. He knew that Ellie had requested it, but still, he’d tried to cut her out of his life. 

“Ross?” A croaky voice from his side sounded. Ross spun his head around, hoping against hope that he hadn’t just imagined it. 

Ellie’s eyes were open, if only just, and staring back at him. Her hand which Ross was holding, squeezed his fingertips ever so slightly. 

“Ellie?!” Ross adjusted his position so he could sit and face Ellie more easily. “You’re awake! Ellie, I was so worried.” 

Ellie smiled slightly at him before grimacing in pain. The act of smiling irritated the wounds on her face. 

“You’re not going to get rid of me that easily,” Ellie said weakly. She tried to push herself up in her bed, but failed, since she could only really use one arm. Flopping back into the bed, Ellie accepted that this would be her position until someone came in to help her move. 

“How long have you been sitting there?” Ellie wondered. 

“Since this morning,” Ross admitted. 

“Aren’t you hungry?” 

It was then that Ross realised that he’d barely eaten all day. There was a vending machine down by the entrance, which James had gotten him a couple of sandwiches from earlier, but apart from that, he’d had nothing since he arrived. Ross hadn’t wanted to leave her side. His stomach rumbled, telling him that the two sandwiches he’d had really weren’t enough and that he needed to eat more soon. 

“I... I just didn’t want to leave you alone,” Ross said quietly. “I feel like such an idiot, Ellie,” Ross told her. This earnt him a puzzled look from her. 

“Why?” Ellie asked him. 

“This shouldn’t have happened to you. It's my fault. I should have just let you tell your side of events. I shouldn’t have pushed you away. I should have just gone to you like we planned. If I’d have done that, you wouldn’t...” Ross tried to stop the tears, but couldn’t. Silently the tears dripped down his face. He felt Ellie’s hand make contact with his arm, calmly stroking it. 

“Don’t blame yourself. It's not your fault that car hit me.” 

“But if-” 

“No buts. The only person to blame was that dickhead of a driver who ran a red light and hit me in the first place. You shouldn’t blame yourself for reacting the way you did. It’s not what caused this.” 

Silence feel upon them as Ross worked through the words, trying not to blame himself. He knew there would always be a nagging feeling telling him that it was partially his fault that Ellie had gotten hurt. 

“Why didn’t you tell me that we’d met before?” Ross asked softly. He noticed Ellie tense slightly at the question. There was a sadness in her eyes, one that Ross recognized from when he’d approached her a couple of months ago in the pizzeria. 

“What do you remember of me from the convention?” Ellie asked first. 

“I remember we talked a lot, not sure what we talked about though, and I remember that we hung out at the after party.” 

“Do you remember what we did at the after party?” 

“We talked. That's all I remember,” Ross said. Ellie nodded, taking a deep breath. 

“We talked a lot at the actual convention. We got along very well there, so you asked me to join you at the after party. I don’t think I would have gone if you hadn’t asked me.” 

Ellie paused, hesitating to tell Ross the rest. 

“You ended up getting very drunk as the night went on and... well, there’s no way to dance around the subject; you ended up kissing me, Ross.” 

Ross looked shocked at that. He had not thought of himself as someone who gets drunk and goes out kissing people he barely knows. 

“What happened after that?” Ross asked tentatively. 

“You regretted it. You apologised about kissing me and then avoided me, not wanting to talk to me anymore. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you to start, Ross, but I just didn’t want you remembering that as our first encounter. And when I saw you again at the pizzeria and you didn’t really remember me, I thought this could be a fresh start for us. That we could make new memories without that disaster hanging over us.” 

Ross sat back in his chair, taking it all in. It did ring some sort of bell in his head, but he couldn’t really remember the events. It did make sense that Ellie hadn’t wanted to tell him about their first encounter though. Maybe either Henry or James could remember it if he talked to them about it. 

“I really am sorry, Ross. I know I should have been honest with you,” Ellie said, tears still falling down her face. 

Ross reached forwards and wiped the tears away from under Ellie’s eyes. “Don’t worry, I forgive you.” 

Ellie visibly relaxed at Ross’ words. A smile crept onto her face, not like the one’s she’d normally give that were full of amusement, but this one seemed to radiate joy and content. Ross couldn’t help but smile back at her. 

A knock at the door was the only warning they got before a nurse came in. It was a different one from earlier. Most likely there had been a change in shifts whilst Ross had been there. 

“I’m sorry to disturb the two of you, I just need to change Ellie’s drip,” the young man said, as he came into the room carrying a new drip with him. 

“That’s okay” Ross answered. He glanced up at the clock and realized that the visiting hours were over now. “I should probably be going now anyways since it’s so late. I think James’s waiting for me in the parking lot by now anyways.” Ross got to his feet, turning his gaze to Ellie. “I’ll come and visit you again tomorrow though, if you’d like?” Ross offered. 

"Yeah, I would like that. I’ll see you tomorrow then. Oh, and please make sure your phone is on from now on,” Ellie said, waving at Ross as he made his way to the door. Ross waved back at Ellie, feeling slightly guilty over turning his phone off once more. 

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure it stays on. I’ll see you,” Ross answered, before letting the door to Ellie’s room close behind him. 

Heading down to the parking lot, Ross felt a small wave of relief wash over him that he’d been able to see Ellie awake before leaving. He was still devastated that Ellie was in the state she was in, but thankful that it wasn’t worse. 

As he went out through the doors of the hospital, he could see the car that belonged to the trio standing in the pickup and drop off parking right outside the hospital. the doors to it opened and out stepped both James and Henry. Ross was a bit taken aback. He had only expected one of them to come since it wasn’t necessary for both of them to go and get him. 

Henry walked hastily over to Ross, meeting him half way to the car, before enveloping him in a big hug. Ross hugged his friend back, realizing just how much he really needed it. Everything had just been so all over the place lately, and getting a hug from one of his best friends just made him feel like everything would be okay. 

After a minute, Henry pulled away to look at his friend. “Me and James got us a bite to eat. Shall we head home and tuck in?” Henry said. 

Ross’ tummy grumbled once again, telling Henry that food sounded like a great idea. They headed back to the car where James was waiting for them. The three headed home to their house, where they ate the pizza James and Henry had gotten them. Ross felt content, sitting with his friends. He still worried about Ellie, but was glad that he would be going back to sit with her again tomorrow. 

“Guys,” Ross started. James and Henry turned to look at him. “I finally found out where I’d seen Ellie before. She was at the Minecraft convention we went to last year. Does that ring any bells for you two?” 

“The convention... hmm... Oh! Oh yeah, so she was. Now I remember! The two of you talked quite a bit, if I remember correctly,” Henry replied. This made Ross feel more at ease. Maybe Ellie wouldn’t lie about everything after all.


	10. Chapter 10

The days passed as Ross got accustomed to his new routine. He would get up in the morning and have a bite to eat. He would then pack a lunch for him to take with to the hospital where he would then sit with Ellie, normally whilst she slept. Often, he would take his laptop with him, so he could still do some work whilst staying next to Ellie. Once visiting hours were over, Ross would then head home where he would then have dinner with his friends. Sometimes, Ross would go to the hospital a bit later. Those were the days where they would record a bulk. 

James and Henry would sometimes accompany Ross to the hospital to see Ellie as well, although most often Ross went on his own. Sometimes when Ross arrived, he would encounter some of Ellie’s friends. They would normally chat for a bit, getting to know one another. Often, they’d leave after an hour or so. One of Ellie’s friends had left almost immediately as soon as Ross arrived. That on its own was confusing for Ross, but not as confusing as when she’d winked at Ellie before the door closed behind her. 

As the time passed, Ross saw how Ellie slowly improved. The cuts and bruises on her face were healing and some of the plasters had now been removed. Ellie now seemed to be able to move around a bit more easily with less pain, although Ross figured this could have been because he saw her fiddling with the pump she was attached to, at one point. Ellie had made him promise not to tell anyone about it though. 

Ellie still had her arm and leg in a cast though. The doctors had said that they would have to stay on for a few more weeks to make sure that the bones healed properly. However, when the doctors came in after just over a week of Ellie being in the hospital and said she’d be able to go home the next day, both Ross and Ellie were overjoyed. 

“So, after lunch sometime you’ll be able to leave. You will of course have to come back in a few weeks to have your casts removed. Will your boyfriend be able to help you at home during the time you’re in the casts?” the doctor asked. 

Ross and Ellie looked at each other, a stunned expression on their faces. “Oh, no, we’re not together,” Ellie said at last. Ross felt his heart sink slightly at the words. 

“So, will he not be able to help you? It’s going to be very difficult for you to manage on your own with both your leg and your arm in a cast. I don’t think we can leg you go home on your own without someone to help you.” 

“It’s okay. I can still help out,” Ross said. 

“Great, well then, we’ll make sure miss Larsen gets to her flat and then you’ll help her from there,” the doctor said, scribbling down some notes on his notepad. The doctor then went out of the room, leaving Ellie and Ross alone once again. 

“You sure you’re up for staying in my tiny flat for a few weeks?” Ellie asked. 

“Yeah, I don’t see why not. It'll be cosy,” Ross said. Ellie laughed, remembering that that was exactly how Ross had described her flat the first time he’d been there. 

*** 

Ross watched the van bringing Ellie to her flat arrive. He had packed some things to bring with, so he could manage staying with Ellie for a while. He would still be going back to the house now and then during the next few weeks for recording, so if he did realize he’d forgotten something he needed, it would be easy to pick it up. 

Once Ellie was out of the vehicle and on the pavement in her wheelchair, the van drove away, getting ready to pick up the next person. 

Ross helped steer Ellie inside the block of flats and towards the lift. Once on the right floor, they got out and went inside her flat. Ross helped lift Ellie into the bed. Luckily one of the nurses had shown him a few lifting techniques to make the lifting easier, both for Ellie, and to make sure Ross didn’t hurt himself in the process. Ellie helped him as much as she could, but struggled due to the casts hobbling her movement. 

Once she was comfortably in her bed, Ross went off to the kitchen to try and make the two of them something to eat. It had been a long time since Ross had actually cooked anything. Normally he would help out by doing the cleaning up afterwards. 

Rooting through the cupboards, trying to acquaint himself with the new kitchen, Ross found a package of Cuppa Soups. ‘Yes, this is something I can make,’ Ross thought to himself, pulling the soups out from the cupboard and turning the kettle on. 

Ross poured in the contents of the sachets in two mugs, and then poured in the water once it had boiled. 

Ross lifted up the cups, and made his way back to the bed where Ellie lay. Placing one on the bedside table next to her, he then made his way around to the other side of the bed where there was space for him to sit next to her. Carefully, he lowered himself into the bed next to Ellie. 

They sat in silence, slowly sipping on their soups. Ross knew that there was still one talk he needed to have with Ellie; the coming out one. Ross had realised that how he had been feeling about Ellie wasn’t just feelings of friendship anymore, and before he started to fall even harder, she needed to know about him, so that the two of them could work from there. 

They finished their soups before Ross broke the silence. “Ellie, there’s actually something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.” 

Ellie put down her cup on the bedside table before redirecting her focus on Ross. 

“There’s something about me that I haven’t told you, and I know I should have told you earlier, but I was just afraid.” 

“What is it?” Ellie asked. 

It was now or never. Ross really hoped he had managed to judge Ellie’s character correctly and that she wouldn’t be as horrible as others had been. Shakily, Ross continued. 

“I don’t feel sexual attraction to others, and sex is just something I really don’t want in my life.” 

Ellie snickered slightly, her gaze focusing downwards on the duvet on top of her. This was not at all one of the reactions Ross had been expecting to happen. 

After Ellie had finished snickering, she turned her gaze up from the duvet to look once again in Ross’ eyes. Ross readied himself for Ellie to throw some sort of insult at him. 

“Sorry, it’s just funny that you say that.” 

Ross was now utterly confused. He had gone over so many scenarios in his head, but this had been one he had not gone through at all. “Why?” Ross asked Ellie. 

“Because you’re not the only asexual in the room, in that case. Ta-da! I’m also asexual,” Ellie said, waving her good arm around a silly manner. 

Ross suddenly felt light as if he were floating on a cloud. He had hoped that she would say this, but both the realistic side and the pessimistic side of him had both told him the chances of that happening were one in a hundred. 

“I love you,” Ross heard his body say. Both he and Ellie were slightly shocked at hearing him say it. 

“What did you say?” Ellie asked, even though they both knew what he had said. 

Ross pulled himself out of the clouds and back down into the bed next to Ellie. “Ellie, I love you so much. I never want to let you leave my life, ever.” 

“You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to hear you say that,” Ellie said, leaning closer to him. Ross leaned in towards Ellie as well, closing the distance between them as their lips met. The chaste kiss sparked so much happiness within Ross, feeling so right, and like he finally had found someone for him. Leaning away from one another, the two looked deeply into each other’s eyes. 

“I love you too, Ross.”


	11. Chapter 11

The days dragged on and the two fell into a routine quickly. Ross took care of the house chores whilst Ellie restlessly fidgeted in the bed, wanting to do something to help out. When it came to cooking, Ross felt helplessly lost. At one point, he had ended up calling his mother, talking in hushed tones so that Ellie wouldn’t realise what he was doing. It hadn’t worked though, because as soon as the two started eating, Ellie had complemented both Ross and his mum on the meal. 

After a month had passed since the accident, Ellie had gone back to the hospital and had the cast on her arm removed. Ellie had been so thankful for that. She was now not bound to a wheelchair, since she was now able to support herself on crutches. Ellie now helped Ross out with a few things around the house, but still Ross helped her with most of the things. 

Ross didn’t feel as worried as he used to leaving Ellie alone in the house now when he went away to do recording with his friends. If she got hungry now, she was able to get herself out of bed and go to the kitchen to find something to eat. 

During the nights, Ross and Ellie curled up together in bed. Ross would often read a book out loud for Ellie to listen to. He’d always put it away once Ellie fell asleep on his arm, making sure to make where they’s left off in the book so they could continue again the next night. 

In mid-July, the sounds from outside the window alerted them to the Pride parade going on outside. 

“Come on, Ross. Let’s go out and have a look. Just for a little,” Ellie said to him. 

They went out into the streets and watched the happy people displaying all their colours pass by. The two of them couldn’t help but smile back at all the people on the streets. Ross almost wanted to join the parade as well, but was happy to just stay by Ellie’s side. 

“Look, Ross,” Ellie said in awe, pointing out a person carrying a flag with black, grey, white, and purple stripes. “That’s the flag for asexuality! Whoo!” Ellie cheered extra loudly as she saw the person approaching. 

The woman caught sight of Ellie and Ross cheering her on, and strayed from the parade momentarily, giving both Ellie and Ross a quick hug, before going back to join the parade. He stood in awe as she watched her pass, along with a few more people holding the same type of flag. For the first time in a very long time, Ross didn’t feel broken. He felt a sense of belonging; of community. He was far from the only person who identified this way. 

“You okay?” Ellie asked, seeing Ross lost in thought. Ross snapped back to reality and looked down to Ellie. 

“More than okay,” He said smiling back at her. Slowly, he leaned into her, giving her a light kiss, holding her close to him, the roaring sound of the parade in the background. 

Ellie smiled up at him when he pulled away. “Come here, you,” she said, pulling him close once more, kissing him deeply. 

Ross really didn’t feel alone in this world anymore. He had Ellie by his side, and he would do everything he could to make sure he didn’t lose her. He never wanted to go back to feeling like he did before, like he was the only one. Clinging on to what he had was the most important thing to Ross now. 

*** 

Time past, and the heat and stickiness of August hit them full on. Ross and Ellie were heading back to the hospital, hopefully for the last time in a while. It was finally time for Ellie to get rid of the bulky cast on her leg. Once it was off, Ellie tentatively stood up on her legs. 

“You’ll need to give it time before your leg is back to full strength. Since you haven’t been using it for a while, the muscles aren’t as strong anymore,” The doctor informed them. The doctor then proceeded to hand them a sheet of paper. “Here are some exercises you can do at home to help strengthen your leg.” 

“Thank you,” Ellie said as she looked through the exercises. The two of them then left the hospital, Ellie still using a walking cane to help her walk until she regained the strength in her leg. 

As they left the hospital, the burning summer sun shone down on them. Ross walked a bit ahead of Ellie, preparing to get a taxi for them. 

“No, wait Ross!” Ellie called from behind him. Ross halted in his tracks, turning around to face Ellie. “Let’s walk instead. It's not that far away.” 

“Are you sure you can manage?” Ross doubted Ellie was quite ready for it. She had only just got the cast taken off, and this was the first time she had walked in two months. 

“I think so. There are quite a few benches around town, so I can rest on the way. In a worst-case scenario, I could just get a piggyback ride from you,” Ellie laughed. Ross gave her an exasperated look. 

“I don’t think I could manage carrying you.” 

Ellie feigned a hurt look. “Are you saying I’m too fat?” 

“Of course, you are. Look at that tummy poking out,” Ross said, jabbing towards Ellie’s stomach. “And your flappy arms, and where is that thigh gap?” 

“I think that’s enough messing around from you. I just got out of hospital after all,” Ellie said, pinching Ross’ cheek not so carefully. 

“Oww, oww, oww, okay, okay, point taken,” Ross said. Ellie let go of his cheek, and Ross rubbed the spot she had been pinching, trying to relieve the pain somewhat. He looked down at the short woman in front of him. He couldn’t be mad at her. Not when he’d been so worried. 

“I’m so glad that you’re better now,” Ross said as he picked her up, spinning her into a hug. Holding her close, the two of them kissed. 

“It is nice to be free from that cast. Shame that I spent basically the whole summer in it. Urgh, and I was so looking forward to going swimming in the sea this year.” 

“Well, the summer completely isn’t over yet. How about we go to the beach sometime soon?” 

Ellie’s face lit up at the suggestion. “Promise?” 

“Promise.” Ross confirmed. “We could go to the sea by Swansea. My parents have been wanting to meet you ever since, well before we got together, actually.” 

“Well, I've really been wanting to meet them too. And then, maybe you’d like to come with me to Norway and meet my parents?” 

“You know, I was starting to think that maybe you’d forgotten that you promised to take me to Norway.” 

“I could never,” Ellie giggled. Ross set her back down on the ground and the two slowly made their way back to Ellie’s flat. 

As they walked, Ross saw Ellie pondering over something. 

“What’s on your mind?” Ross asked Ellie. 

“So, we’re in a relationship now, yeah?” Ellie asked. 

“Yeah...” Ross said, wondering where this was going. 

“What do you want with this relationship?” Ellie asked. 

“What do you mean?” Ross asked, not quite sure what Ellie was asking. 

“I mean, what are the things you want with a relationship. Do you want children, marriage, do you want us to permanently move in together? Those kinds of things,” Ellie explained. 

“Oh, well, I should probably let you know now that children is something I’ll never want,” Ross confessed. 

“That’s fine. I’m not so keep on children either. They’re pretty annoying, most of the time.” 

“I’m so glad you agree. Hmm, I would like to get married one day. I would like to be able to show everyone how much I care about you, and how much I love you. Being able to spend my life with you and being happy with you, is what I want. I know we’ll have our disagreements and arguments, but I want to be able to work them out with you.” 

Ellie smiled up at Ross. “That’s so sweet of you. You’ve just perfectly described what I want to get from a relationship with you as well. Yeah, of course things aren’t always going to be perfect, but we’ll get through things together.” 

Intertwining their fingers together, the two of them slowly continued their walk back to the flat. 

*** 

Ross felt utterly exhausted. He had just spent the past six days more or less straight recording videos with James and Henry. Ross was preparing to go away for a bit of a longer trip with Ellie. First, they would be heading to Swansea to spend some time with his parents, and then they would fly to Norway where he would finally get to see Ellie’s parents. 

Ross had only ever seen them in a video call whilst Ellie had been in the hospital. They had wanted to come down and see her in the hospital, but Ellie had assured them that she was okay, and that it wasn’t necessary for them to fly over to England to see her. They'd been put at ease seeing that she had Ross there making sure she was okay. 

Ross removed his headphones, glad that the recording sessions had finally come to a close. The amount of recording they had done was a lot more than they normally did, but since Ross was leaving the next day for a few weeks, they didn’t really have a choice. Luckily this gave the other two a chance for a proper break as well, which they hadn’t had in a long time. Henry was going to go up to Scotland to spend some time with his girlfriend, and James was going to invite Craig over and the two of them were going to hang out. 

“Would you like a bite to eat before you leave?” James offered. 

“You know I can’t say no to your cooking,” Ross answered. James smiled at him as he headed into the kitchen to get started. During the days of recording, there hadn’t been much time or energy for cooking, so takeaways had been their main source of sustenance during the week. 

Grabbing a bag from the cupboard under the sink, James gathered all the rubbish they had generated and placed it in the bag for them to throw. 

Ross went up the stairs to his room to quickly pack the stuff he needed to bring with on his trip. Clothes, some chargers, adapters, and his computer were what he decided to bring. His computer was a must since he had promised to help with some of the editing whilst he was away. He threw all the stuff into the suitcase he’d placed on his bed, closed it. 

Getting it closed was not an easy task, since Ross had a tendency to overpack, but he managed in the end by sitting on the suitcase. As he pulled the zip closed, Ross thought about the conversation he’d had with Ellie when she’d gotten her last cast removed. Marriage was something he’d always thought he’d wait with, but now he wasn’t so sure. Ross really liked Ellie, and the last thing he wanted was for her to leave, especially now when he’d finally found a sense of belonging with her. Maybe, even though it was early, it was time. 

With those thoughts it mind, Ross lifted his suitcase off of the bed, and then dragged it down the stairs with him. 

Placing the suitcase in the hallway, Ross could finally smell his friend’s cooking. The smell of sausages frying in the pan lured him back into the kitchen. Just as he entered, he saw Henry helping out by mashing some potatoes. 

“Hi, mate. Bangers and mash tonight. Sound good?” James said, lifting the pan off the stove, and pushing the sausages into a bowl he had nearby. 

“Sounds good and smells good,” Ross replied, stepping into the kitchen to grab plates and cutlery for the three of them. 

The three of them happily ate their meal, discussing how they thought the recording had gone and who would be editing what. Ross ended up with the Trials videos. He didn’t mind. They were pretty easy to edit. 

After the meal was finished, they said their goodbyes. Ross got some really squeezing hugs from Henry as if he were trying to suffocate Ross with positive vibes. 

“I really hope you have a wonderful time, Ross. Both you and Ellie,” Henry said as he released his friend from his death grip. 

“I will,” Ross said as he tried to get his breath back. “I hope you also have a great time in Scotland.” 

Ross turned to James, not sure whether or not to hug him. James had never been much of a hugger. “Come here, you,” James said, pulling Ross into a big bear hug. 

“I hope you also have a good time hanging out with Craig,” Ross said to his friend. 

“I will. I hope you have a good time with the in-laws,” James joked. Ross laughed along with his friend, but in the back of his head, James’s remark had lit a spark. Ross had thought about a life with Ellie as the time had progressed, but the thought that soon the people he was about to meet might be in-laws felt odd to him. 

There was a ring at the doorbell, and James eagerly went and opened the door. It was Craig. 

“James! Nice to see ya again!” Craig said, as James leaned forwards, embracing Craig in a big hug. 

Ross tilted his head, slightly confused. It was rare for James to hug people, and even rarer for him to hug people he didn’t know that well. Since when had he gotten than close to Craig? 

Not giving it much more thought, Ross made his way into the hallway to greet Craig quickly before grabbing his suitcase, waving goodbye, and started the walk back to Ellie’s place. 

*** 

‘It’s way too early to be awake right now,’ Ross thought to himself as he yawned. It wasn’t actually that early. It was evening when they had boarded the train, but Ross was just so tired from all the work he had been doing recently that it didn’t matter to him what time of day it was. 

They had decided to take the train so that James could have the car in case he needed it for some reason. It wasn’t like him or Henry would really be needing it whilst they were away. 

Ross felt the train jerk into motion as it pulled away from Bristol train station and towards Swansea. It had been a while since Ross had last taken the train anywhere. 

“I’m nervous, Ross. What if they don’t like me?” Ellie asked from beside him. 

“Don’t be ridiculous. They already love you. You helped bring me and them back together. You have nothing to worry about. If anything, I should be worried about meeting your parents,” Ross reassured her. 

It was true though. His parents had really wanted to meet Ellie after he had explained to them why he had gotten in contact with them again after ignoring them for so long. It was also true that Ross was really nervous about meeting Ellie’s parents, but not just because they had never met before in real life, but also because Ross had decided that if everything went well, he would be asking Ellie’s dad for Ellie’s hand in marriage. It was a tradition that not many people followed today, but an important one for Ross to know that his future in laws approved. Ross had made up his mind. It all felt so right. He didn’t want to wait any longer. He wanted to marry Ellie. 

The two-hour train ride went along quickly. The route took them along the coastline, so they could see the serene sea to their left. Ross had given Ellie the window seat, which she was very grateful for. Her nose had been pressed against the window more or less nonstop for the entire journey, only breaking away to eat some sandwiches, and to give Ross the occasional peck on the cheek. She did make sure that Ross wasn’t forgotten by holding his hand throughout the whole journey. 

As they saw Swansea draw closer, they got up from their seats, and gathered their stuff, making sure they hadn’t forgotten anything. The train slowed to a stop at the station, and Ross and Ellie got off the train. As Ross was stepping off, he saw his mum and dad standing there in front of him. 

Smiling, Ross walked forward and gave his dad a big hug, with his dad eagerly returning the embrace. 

“It’s good to see you again, son!” 

“It’s great to see you as well, dad,” Ross replied as the two pulled apart. Turning around, Ross saw Ellie standing behind him, leaning on the cane. “This is Ellie. Ellie, this is my dad, Henry. You met over the phone a couple of months ago.” 

Ellie smiled at Henry, offering her hand forwards for him to shake. “It’s nice to finally meet you in person, Henry.” 

“Likewise,” Henry said, accepting the handshake. “Ross has talked so much about you. It's nice to finally meet you. Shall we go to the car? Sharon is at home waiting for us.” 

“Sounds good,” Ross said. He grabbed a hold of both his suitcase and Ellie’s and the three of them slowly made their way over to the car. They got inside it and then made the short drive to the outer parts of Swansea where Ross’ parents' house is. 

Once the car pulled up in the driveway and the three were getting out, the front door of the house opened, revealing Ross’ mum and Harry. Harry made a beeline straight for Ross, waging his tail so furiously that Ross thought Harry’s butt might fly away. 

“Hey Harry. You missed me, huh,” Ross said as he bent down to greet Harry. Harry greeted him back by jumping into his lap and licking Ross’ face thoroughly. Standing up, Ross was about to go and get the suitcases from the car, but his dad had already beaten him to it. Instead, he went to the front door to introduce his mum to Ellie. 

“Hi, mum,” Ross said, giving him mum a hug from one step down to save his mum having to stand on tippy toes to reach him. 

“Hi, Ross. It's nice to see you again.” 

Ross turned around, moving out of his mum’s line of sight so she could more easily see Ellie. “Mum, this is Ellie, my girlfriend. Ellie, this is Sharon, my mum.” 

Before Ellie could even offer her hand to Ross’ mum for her to shake, Sharon had pulled her into a squeezing hug. 

“It’s so nice to finally meet you, Ellie. Henry and I have a lot to thank you for, I hear. I’m so sorry to hear about your accident, but I’m glad to see that you’re doing better now,” Ross’ mum babbled. 

“Err, it’s nice to meet you too,” Ellie said awkwardly, managing to get a word in edgeways through Ross’ mum’s chatter. 

Ross smiled, turning to see his dad with the same smile. They both knew that when Ross’ mum got excited, there was no stopping her from talking. 

“Come in, come in, the lot of you,” Ross’ mum said, stepping aside and ushering the three into the house. 

“I’m glad that the two of you could finally come over. I’ve been looking forward to finally getting to meet you Ellie. Come here, you can have a spot on the sofa,” Ross’ mum said as they walked into the living room. 

Ellie sat down, thankful for the seat. Even though she had been keeping up with the exercises she’d gotten from the hospital, it was still going to take months before the strength in her leg fully returned. 

“Can I get you anything? A cup of tea? Orange juice? Milk? Water?” 

“A cup of tea would be nice,” Ellie responded. 

“Would you like a little bite to eat of anything? Surely you must be hungry after your trip here.” 

“I’m fine, actually. Ross made some sandwiches for us to eat on the train ride here, and also it’s soon lunchtime.” 

“Of course, always the gentleman, Ross,” Ross’ mum said proudly as she turned to her son who was standing next to her husband. “Would any of you two like anything?” 

“A cup of tea for me too, dear,” Ross’ dad answered. 

“And me,” Ross added. 

Ross’ mum vanished into the kitchen, busying herself over the kettle. Ross’ dad followed her into the kitchen, talking to her in hushed tones. Ross figured his dad was trying to calm her down a bit. This wasn’t the first time she had gone ecstatic over having guests over. She had been this way when he had first brought a girlfriend over, or when a family friend had come over to visit with their new-born baby. She was normally not quite this bad though. 

Emerging from the kitchen came Ross’ parents, both carrying cups of tea. They each handed a cup to Ross and Ellie. 

“So, how have you two been recently?” Ross’ mum said much more calmly. 

“Well, I've been okay, all things considered. Mainly I've been resting and recovering. Luckily, I’ve had Ross around who has been so helpful during this time,” Ellie answered. 

“Oh, yes. Ross was telling me that you had been in an accident. I’m so glad to see that you’re doing better now,” Ross’ mum replied, sipping carefully on her steaming hot tea. 

“I’m glad to feeling better; especially glad to be free of the casts I had on. When I first got sent home with them on, Ross had to stay with me and help me around the flat. I couldn’t really do anything on my own.” 

“Oh, yes. Ross mentioned. I remember that he called and told me that he’d temporarily moved in with you.” 

“Yeah, I remember that call. You're cooking tips do wonders. I’m really looking forward to your cooking,” Ellie smiled at Sharon. Ross couldn’t help but feel slightly embarrassed. 

“Well, you won’t have to wait long now. Lunch is almost ready.” Ross’ mum headed back into the kitchen with Ross’ dad and the two set to work with the final preparations for lunch. it was a homemade quiche with a light salad on the side. 

Ross felt his tummy grumble at the smell of the food. Even though he’d had a sandwich only a couple of hours ago, it felt like an eternity at the sight of his mother’s cooking. 

Sitting at the small table, the four of them scrunched in next to each other, Ross’ dad trading his seat for one next to his wife so Ellie could sit next to Ross. 

Ross’ mum and Ellie chattered away during the meal, getting along like a house on fire, whilst Ross and his dad talked a little bit together. It felt good for Ross to be able to introduce his parents to Ellie. The feeling of acceptance was one he had always been looking for, and even though they’d been accepting of him before, it just felt so genuine now that he had a partner that he introduced to them. 

Finishing their meal, Ross and Ellie headed upstairs to put their stuff down. Ross opened the door for Ellie into his childhood bedroom. 

“So, this is where I grew up,” Ross said, showing Ellie the room. 

Ellie slowly moved into the room, looking around to take in Ross’ past. There was a poster on the walls of a band Ross used to listen to when he was younger. 

“Coldplay, huh?” Ellie mused. 

“Yeah, I listened to them when I was younger,” Ross admitted. 

“Nice, I used to listen to them as well. Still do sometimes,” Ellie answered as she continued to look through the room. Ross sat himself down on the bed, watching as Ellie looked around his room. 

After a couple of minutes, Ellie joined Ross on the bed. It wasn’t a large bed, but the two of them could squeeze in there together. Being close wasn’t a big issue for them. When they’d stayed in Ellie’s flat for the past couple of months, they’d been sleeping in an even smaller bed. 

“I like the bed, it’s cosy,” Ellie said, smiling knowingly. 

Ross snorted at this. It had become an inside joke that things were cosy. Ever since Ross had called Ellie’s apartment cosy when he’d first gone to visit. 

The two quickly got ready for bed, tired after a day of hastily getting ready and then sitting on a train for two hours. 

Curling up in bed together, Ross slung an arm around Ellie, pulling her close into his chest. 

“Goodnight, darling,” Ellie said, sleep taking over her voice. 

“Goodnight,” Ross replied, placing a light kiss on Ellie’s shoulder before his eyes closed and the two of them fell asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

As the next day arrived, Ellie and Ross prepared for a day out. Ross was going to show Ellie the beach of the Mumbles. Ross’ dad had approached him and offered to lend Ross his car for the day, which Ross had gratefully accepted. 

Eagerly, Ellie got into the car with Ross and the two headed off to the beach, already wearing their swimming gear. As they arrived at the beach, Ross got lucky and found them a close by parking spot, so that Ellie wouldn’t have to walk as far. 

Getting out of the car, Ross went around to Ellie’s side to help her. 

“So, this is the place you pointed out to me during our picnic?” Ellie asked, taking in the view of the beach. 

“Yup.” 

“And it’s the same place that you showed me over the phone whilst I was in Norway?” 

“Yup. Want to go and take a closer look?” 

Ellie nodded. Before she could take a step closer to the beach, Ross scooped her up into his arms, earning a little yelp from Ellie. She swung her arms around his neck, making sure to hold onto him properly. 

“Let’s make sure you don’t get tired too quickly,” Ross said as a way of justifying him picking her up. 

Ellie giggled slightly. “You’re ridiculous,” She said lovingly. Ross smiled back at her, giving her a small kiss as he started the walk closer to the sea. 

It was pretty crowded, but Ross managed to find them a nice spot rather close to the water. Putting Ellie down, he removed the rucksack from his back that he’d been carrying their things in and took out a blanket which he placed on the sand. 

“It’s so beautiful here. It must have been amazing growing up here.” 

Ross looked up from the rucksack, gaze directed at the sea Ellie was observing. 

“I didn’t really think about it back then, but yeah. It is a wonderful place to grow up. Me and my parents would often come here in the summer when I was younger to go swimming.” 

“That sounds really nice,” Ellie turned to face Ross. “Well, now it’s time for you to go swimming with me.” 

Ellie started to walk carefully off towards the water, leaving the cane behind. Ross easily caught up with her. He walked alongside her, intertwining his fingers into hers. 

As they took their first steps into the water, Ross felt the cool water submerge his feet. It was nowhere near as cold as it had been a few months ago, and now in the heat of August, it felt refreshing. Ross thought that it could actually be nice to go swimming in this if he just took time getting used to the temperature. 

“Are you sure you’re okay to be going into the water?” Ross asked. 

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Ellie asked, confused. 

“Well, you’re injury. What if you haven’t recovered enough and something happens?” 

Ellie rolled her eyes at him. “I’m not a fragile piece of porcelain, Ross. I’ll be fine.” 

They walked in further, the water now going up to Ellie’s hips. As they took another step further into the water, Ellie’s leg seemed to give way and she fell into the water. Ross panicked, feeling like all his worries were suddenly justified. 

Reaching into the chilly water, Ross grabbed a hold of Ellie’s hand. Big mistake. Just as he grabbed Ellie’s hand, she jerked it towards her, pulling Ross down into the water with her. 

The cold water hit him like a massive wave. Ross quickly pulled himself above the water level, gasping in the air as he tried to control the shock the water had brought upon him. Ellie stood up next to him, laughing hysterically. 

“That was not funny,” Ross said, trying to sound angry. 

“Oh, come on. It was a little. And besides, doesn’t the water feel less cold now that you’ve gotten the worst of it over?” 

Ross refused to answer to give Ellie the satisfaction of being right. His silence was enough to confirm Ellie’s suspicions. Seeing Ellie’s smug expression, Ross turned away, his gaze directed in the opposite direction of Ellie. 

A giggle came from Ellie’s direction and then the splashing of water as she waded out further. Turning to see her leaving him behind spurred Ross on to follow her. 

Once the water was up to Ross’ hips, the two of them took a deep breath before submerging themselves once more. It didn’t feel as cold now since his body had gotten used to the temperature. 

Once they were standing, they decided to head back to the shore, the two of them starting to get hungry. 

“Ouch!” Ellie suddenly said, startled by something in the water. 

“What happened?” Ross asked. 

Ellie stared at the water with a confused expression. “I think a fish just bit me.” 

“What? Are you serious? How badly did it bite you?” 

Ellie lifted her foot out of the water and examined it. “Not enough to leave a mark, but it did hurt. Weird. Oh well, let’s get out and find somewhere to eat.” 

Quickly the two got out of the water and dried themselves off. They got dressed, the clothes sticking to their still damp bodies. 

“Come on. I know a place nearby we can eat at,” Ross said as the two of them finished packing their things. 

Ross led them to a quaint little café a little bit away from the beach. They ordered food and then ate when it arrived. 

“How did you know about this little place?” Ellie asked, taking a bite of the fish and chips she ordered. 

“My parents used to take me here when I was younger. It was a nice place to go to to get away from the crowds in the summer.” 

“I like it. The food here is nice.” 

Ross smiled, happy that Ellie liked the place. They ate their food together before heading back to Ross’ parents place. 

*** 

Ross and Ellie were hugging Ross’ parents goodbye. They were about to get a train to Cardiff airport to go to Norway to see Ellie’s parents. 

The days they had spent with Ross’ parents had been nice. Ellie had bonded really well with his parents; especially with his mum. The embarrassing stories they had shared about Ross had definitely been a good source of the bonding, at the expense of Ross. 

It was a small price to pay though. Ross was just happy that they all got along so well. After nearly losing all contacts with his parents, he wouldn’t have known what he’d do if Ellie and his parents hadn’t gotten along. Luckily Ross didn’t have to dwell on that situation, since it had never occurred. 

“Bye mum. Bye dad,” Ross said, giving both his mum and his dad a hug. 

“Aww, goodbye, Ross. I love you so much,” Ross’ mum said, giving him a tight squeeze. 

“It’s been really nice seeing you two,” Ross’ dad said, giving Ross a less suffocating hug. 

“It was so nice meeting the two of you,” Ellie said as she gave both Sharon and Henry a hug each. 

“It was nice to meet you too. Do come back again and visit us soon, yeah?” Sharon said to Ellie. 

“Of course,” Ellie said as she and Ross waved goodbye to Ross’ parents. The two got onto their train, just before the whistle sounded and the train pulled away into motion. 

With the silence of the journey, Ross felt the nervousness about meeting Ellie’s parents creep up on him. Ross knew that the nerves would slowly dissipate once he’d actually met them, but until then he’d just have to bear it. 

Ellie noticed that Ross was tense, and tried to distract him from his thoughts with light conversation. Ross was thankful, because it helped a bit, but the nagging thoughts were still there. 

Once the flight landed in Norway, everything suddenly felt so real to Ross. It was a small walk from the plane to the exit where Ellie’s parents were waiting for them. As they walked out into the arrivals’ hall, there was an older couple waving at Ellie. Ellie smiled, and waved back as she and Ross walked over to them. 

“Mor, Far!” Ellie said, leaning up to give them each a hug. They exchanged a few quick words in Norwegian that Ross didn’t understand, before turning to face Ross. 

“Mum, dad, this is my boyfriend, Ross. Ross, this is my mum, Anette, and my dad, Torbjørn.” 

Ellie’s mum and dad smiled at him, both offering him their hands for Ross to shake. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Ellie’s dad said in a thick Norwegian accent. 

“Likewise,” Ross said smiling as the handshake with Ellie’s dad made Ross’ whole body shake. Meeting Ellie’s dad had calmed some of the nerves Ross had been experiencing during the flight. 

“Shall we get going on the road? It’s a bit of a drive to our house.” The four of them agreed and went to the car to start their drive northwards. The town they were heading towards was called Austmaka and was about an hour away from the airport. 

The drive to the house had Ross in awe. It looked just like the scenery Ellie had showed him through their call, only with much less snow now. The clear, still, water perfectly reflected the mountains and blue sky above. 

“Not long left until we’re there,” Ellie said, breaking Ross from his trance and redirecting his gaze back to the people back in the car. 

The pulled off the road going around the mountains, and onto a smaller, windier road. Within five minutes they were parked at a large house by a bay of water. Getting out of the car, Ross and Ellie grabbed their luggage and then followed Ellie’s parents into the house. 

As Ross removed his shoes in the hallway, he heard footsteps heading his way. 

“Ellie!” A younger man said emerging in the hallway. 

“Jensen!” Ellie said, giving him a hug. As they pulled apart, Ellie turned to face Ross. “Ross, this is my brother, Jensen. Jensen, this is Ross.” 

Jensen smiled at Ross, offering his hand for Ross to shake. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Ross,” Jensen said with an accent not as strong as his father’s but still noticeable. “Ellie’s talked a lot about you.” 

“Oh, really? I hope it’s nothing bad, haha,” Ross laughed jokingly. Jensen laughed with him. 

“Haha, nah. Just good things. Shall we go to the kitchen? I’ve made us some food.” 

All agreeing, they made their way into the kitchen after putting their stuff in the bedroom. Sausages with bread were standing on the table, waiting for them when they came into the kitchen. 

The breakfast they had eaten before leaving Ross’ parents was now a distant memory. Ross happily ate as many sausages as he could until his tummy started to complain that he’d eaten too many. 

Talking to Ellie’s family, Ross started to get to know them, feeling more and more relaxed as he did so. He'd found out that Ellie’s dad worked as a teacher in a nearby school, and Ellie’s mum worked as a nurse. Ellie’s brother, Jensen studied at university in Oslo, but was currently home for the summer. 

“So, do you work with videos like Ellie does, Ross?” Torbjørn asked. 

“Yeah, I do. That’s actually how the two of us met. We did a collaboration together.” 

“Oh really,” Torbjørn said in surprise. An expression of realization dawned across his face suddenly. “Oh yes, now I remember. You went around Bristol together. Ellie showed us the video when she came to visit.” 

Ross felt his cheeks redden slightly at the comment. They had acted like such idiots in that video because that’s how their online personas were. Ross really hadn’t wanted that to have been the first impression he’d given Ellie’s father and he hoped that Torbjørn hadn’t watched any more of his videos, since they were often a lot raunchier than the video they’d done with Ellie. 

“It looked like the four of you had a lot of fun filming that video. The other two people in the video are your friends, yes?” Torbjørn asked. 

“Yes, they are,” Ross said, glad for the shift in topic. 

“Did the three of you also meet through YouTube?” Ellie’s mum asked, finally speaking up after being quiet for so long. It seemed like she was the quiet type, with her mainly smiling and laughing when appropriate. 

“No, we actually met through school. We all went to the same upper secondary school. The three of us discovered that we all enjoyed film making and playing video games. So, we decided to film us playing them and put them up online,” Ross explained. 

“It must be nice to have met friends that you share interests with,” Ellie’s mum said, smiling at Ross with a warm and caring smile. 

“It really is. I’m so glad that we all found each other,” Ross answered as he thought about his friends and how thankful he was to have them. 

Once they’d finished eating, Ellie went off to the bedroom to unpack their things. Jensen also left to go to his room, claiming that since he’d cooked, someone else could clear up. Ross hardly thought that frying some sausages counted as cooking. 

Ross stayed behind with Ellie’s parents and helped them clear the table. Ross had purposely stayed behind with Ellie’s parents, deciding to take advantage of the privacy. 

“Hey, Torbjørn, Anette. There was a question I was hoping to ask you.” 

Torbjørn and Anette turned to face Ross. “Yes? What is it?” Torbjørn asked Ross. 

Taking in a deep breath, Ross mentally prepared himself for the question. “I was hoping you would do the honour of allowing me to marry your daughter. I have never met anyone like her before, and I’m very sure I never will. I love her with all my heart and she has taught me so much about myself and life. I can’t imagine walking this path without her.” 

Both Torbjørn and Anette looked at Ross with a surprised look. 

“Don’t you think this is moving a bit fast? I thought the two of you only met earlier this year,” Torbjørn questioned. 

“And have you thought through this properly? Marriage is a big commitment,” Anette added. 

“I do realise this is moving things quickly. But I can honestly say that I already know now that I will not find anyone more suitable for me than Ellie. I love her so much and I want her to know that,” Ross admitted. The one part he didn’t admit to was that he also didn’t want to lose Ellie. For Ross, he felt like if he didn’t marry her, he might lose her. 

“We just want to make sure that our little girl will be making the right choice. How about we give you our answer near the end of the stay?” Torbjørn proposed. 

“Yes, that sounds fine to me,” Ross replied. He really didn’t want to wait in this uncertainty during the stay, but it was at least better than an outright ‘no’. He suddenly started to worry that maybe they didn’t like him and they were just trying to let him down gently. 

“I think I should go up to Ellie a bit for now and help with our things,” Ross said, excusing himself. 

“Okay, Ross. We’ll see you later then,” Torbjørn said. 

Ross left Ellie’s parents and went to join Ellie in her old room. Ellie was on the floor next to her suitcase, pulling out the bag of dirty clothes she had gathered during her stay at Ross’ parents. She looked up from the bad when she heard Ross come in. 

“Oh, hi, Ross. You took your time. Did you end up being grilled by my parents?” Ellie asked. 

“Huh? Oh, oh yeah. I was,” Ross replied, caught slightly off-guard by Ellie’s question. 

“Yeah, they’re very curious to know more about you. You're the first guy I've brought home that they actually like.” 

This surprised Ross. He was certain that they didn’t like him. At best they possibly felt neutral about him. 

“What? Did you really think they wouldn’t like you after how you took care of me during the summer? You should really have more confidence in yourself. You’re lovely, and no one sane could ever miss that.” 

Ellie gave Ross a quick peck on the cheek as she passed by him to go and do the washing, leaving Ross alone in the foreign room, his head spinning with questions. Ross hoped that things would be a bit clearer tomorrow when they were all going out on an outing together. Ross didn’t know where they were going. Torbjørn and Anette had kept it a secret to surprise Ellie and Ross with. 

Going through his bag of stuff, Ross dug out his phone, deciding to call his friends to let them know that he had arrived safely and to give them an update on how things were going. He decided to give Henry a quick call first, knowing he would most likely be the busiest of the two. They chatted for a bit before he went off to join Chelsea on a date. 

After he ended the call with Henry, he dialled the number back to the house where James was. Whilst the phone was ringing, Ellie came back into the room. She quietly crawled up into the bed next to Ross, so as not to disturb him. 

“Hello,” Ross heard on the other end as James picked up. 

“Hey there. It’s Ross,” Ross answered. The two of them quickly fell into a long chat. Ellie, who was very tired after the trip, fell asleep on Ross’ arm. They talked about how they had been and how things had gone at Ross’ parents’ place. James told Ross that Craig had been coming to hang out whilst both Ross and Henry were gone, meaning he hadn’t been as lonely as Ross had feared he would be. It brought some relief to Ross. James and Ross chatted all the way up until dinner was ready. 

After the call ended, Ross turned to Ellie and carefully tried to wake her. 

“Ellie, your mum says dinner’s ready,” Ross said, giving Ellie a little shake. 

“Huh? Oh. Okay,” Ellie said, sleepily getting out of bed. 

They went downstairs and helped get the table laid for dinner, with Ellie directing Ross in the direction of where the things were. 

As they sat down at the table, Ellie’s parents were smiling deviously at Ross, Ellie, and Jensen. 

“So, for our outing tomorrow, we would advise you to bring with waterproof clothes,” Torbjørn said to them. 

Ross looked warily back at them. “Why?” He asked them. 

“That’s a secret until tomorrow,” Torbjørn stated, not betraying anything about the trip. 

Ross felt lucky at least that he had thrown in his rain jacket into his suitcase at the last moment. 

As they ate, Ross wondered what they would be doing tomorrow that risked them getting wet. Maybe it was just going to rain tomorrow and they were going to be outside. Just before pulling his mind back to the kitchen table to talk to Ellie’s family, he made a mental note to check the weather after dinner, even though he was sure it wasn’t going to rain. 

*** 

The whole family and Ross got into Ellie’s parents’ car and made the drive towards the coastline for the day’s activity which Ross was still none the wiser about. 

“Have any of you got any idea what it could be yet?” Torbjørn asked Ellie, Jensen and Ross who were sitting in the back seats. 

“Yup,” Ellie and Jensen said in unison. Like a flash of lightning, Jensen punched Ellie’s arm. 

“Ow!” Ellie exclaimed, punching him right back. 

“Hey! Those aren’t the rules. We said the same thing, and them only the fastest person gets to punch the other,” Jensen explained. 

“Well, maybe I just felt like punching you. Have you ever thought of that, huh?” Ellie said, punching Jensen’s arm again for good measure, but this time it was a lighter punch. 

Ross rolled his eyes at their bickering, but secretly he enjoyed watching their interactions. 

“Ross, do you have any idea what we’ll be doing?” Torbjørn asked him. 

“None whatsoever,” Ross admitted. “Will you tell me what it is yet?” 

“Nope, you’ll find out soon. We’re almost there.” 

After a while, the car arrived in a town right by the ocean. They pulled into a parking lot close to the coast, with loads of boats sitting in the harbour next to them. 

It suddenly dawned on Ross that they would most likely be getting on one of the boats and going out to sea. That would explain the need for water proof clothing. 

“Come on, guys. We don’t want to miss it,” Torbjørn said, ushering them into a building where they paid for tickets to go on a whale safari. Ross would never have guessed that this was what they were going to do. 

As they boarded the ferry, Ross turned to Ellie. “Did you know that we were going to do this?” He asked her. 

“I had an inkling. We used to go out on these when we were younger as a family. It’s been a while since last time though,” Ellie admitted. 

Jensen came up behind Ellie and started talking to her in Norwegian. Ellie and Jensen quickly vanished further onto the boat chatting away, probably catching up on life together. 

“Have you ever been on a whale safari before, Ross?” Anette asked Ross, startling him slightly. He hadn’t realised she was right behind him. 

“Err, no. I can’t say I have. It sounds really fun though,” Ross replied. Anette smiled at him. 

“It’ll be a new experience for you then. I remember the first time we took Ellie on one of these. She was pretty young at the time and didn’t like the rocking of the boat and was very upset about it and started crying. But once she saw her first whale, she was so fascinated, she stopped crying instantly and just stared at it. Since then, she’s never cried whilst out at sea. Instead she just goes straight for the deck or the windows, looking at the sea, hoping to see another whale.” 

“That’s really sweet. She must really like whales,” Ross remarked. 

“That and any kind of sea creature,” Anette explained. 

The ferry tugged into motion and pulled out towards the open sea as Ross and Anette continued talking about Ellie, with Anette talking about Ellie’s past, and Ross talking about how it had been living with Ellie for the past couple of months. 

Their conversation was interrupted once they’d come far enough out to see whales, by Ellie running up to them. 

“Look! Look! It’s a whale over there! Ellie exclaimed, pointing out into the ocean. 

Ross and Anette stood with the crowd by the edge of the boat, looking out into the ocean. Indeed, there was a whale out there. They saw the arch of its back as it came up for air before returning under the surface once more. 

Ross turned to look at Ellie’s expression of awe as she watched the whale disappear beneath the surface. A smile spread across his face seeing her this happy. 

As the trip continued, the saw more whales. Ellie had found a leaflet with the different whales you could see on the trip, and was crossing off the ones she saw as she went along. Once the boat returned to the harbour, Ellie had ticked off quite a few of the whales from her list. 

The day had been a good one for them all. As they were heading home, Ellie got a phone call from a friend of hers in Norway who had heard she was back in the country for a bit and wanted to meet up with her. They decided to meet the next day, giving Ross a day alone with Ellie’s parents, since Jensen had also made plans for that day. He wondered what they would get up to. They would probably think of something. 

*** 

Ellie gave Ross a kiss in the morning before heading out to meet up with her friend. 

“I’ll see you later, Ross. Have a nice day!” She said before leaving. 

“See you, Ellie. I hope you have a nice time with your friend.” 

As the door closed, Ross was left alone in the house with Ellie’s parents. 

“So, Ross. Is there anything in particular you would like to do today?” Torbjørn asked. Ross thought for a bit. After doing so much recently, and meeting new people, he felt really exhausted. He didn’t feel like doing anything big, but did feel it was still important to do something and interact with Ellie’s parents. 

“Do you two like playing board games?” Ross asked, taking a shot in the dark. 

Ellie’s parents looked slightly surprised at the suggestion, but then smiled. They probably didn’t peg Ross as the sort of person who would play board games. 

“Yes, we do. We have Monopoly, Snakes and Ladders, or Scrabble. Which one would you like to play?” Torbjørn asked. 

“How about a game of Monopoly?” Ross proposed. It had been quite a while since he’d played Monopoly last. 

“Sounds good. I’ll go and get the game,” Torbjørn said, disappearing into the house to go and find the box. Ross helped Anette clear the kitchen table, creating space for them to play the game. 

When Torbjørn came back, the three of them set the game up, making sure they all had what they needed, and then rolled the dice to see who would be going first. Anette won the dice roll. 

As they played, their different strategies became clear. Torbjørn bought everything he landed on, Ross went only for the most expensive properties, and Anette went after the train stations. As the game progressed, it looked like Torbjørn was going to go bankrupt, but his strategy of buying everything paid off. Through deals with other players and eventually building houses and hotels on his properties, he quickly climbed back into the game and ended up winning. 

“That was a really good game,” Ross said as they started clearing up. “I really didn’t think you would win there at one point,” Ross admitted to Torbjørn. 

“Torbjørn almost always wins,” Anette explained as she closed the box with the game put away inside it. “I think the only one to beat him is Jensen, and that’s only because Jensen’s very unpredictable in games.” 

Ross glanced at Torbjørn and saw him smirking slightly to himself. He turned his gaze towards the kitchen clock and saw that it was almost midday already. His tummy grumbled as to remind him that it was lunch time. 

“Are you hungry, Ross?” Torbjørn asked. 

“Yeah, I am,” Ross answered. “I was actually wondering if you would like me to cook lunch for us today?” 

“That would be very much appreciated,” Torbjørn said, smiling at Ross. 

Ross moved towards the fridge and looked inside of it, seeing what there was to cook with. He still wasn’t a great cook, but after the summer taking care of Ellie, he had learnt some simple dishes. 

“How do omelettes sound to you?” Ross asked, seeing the eggs in the fridge. 

“Sounds good to us,” Torbjørn said happily. 

Ross removed the ingredients from the fridge and turned the stove on and started to cook the meal. He threw in some ham and cheese into the omelette whilst it was cooking. Once it was done, he plated them up, one each, and they all sat down and ate together, talking to one another. 

“So, Ross. We know how you met Ellie, but what made you want to keep talking to her? What caught your interest?” Torbjørn asked. 

“Well, she was just really fun to talk to and the conversation just flowed so naturally. She just seemed so happy and cheerful, and even during the first time we met, we discovered similar interests, so we decided to meet up again, at first only to play some games together, but we did end up just more and more doing other things together, and discovering more and more similarities.” 

“Are the similarities and easy conversation the reasons as to why you want to marry her?” Torbjørn questioned. 

“They’re definitely part of the reason. I don’t think I could marry someone I struggled to talk to and didn’t have similar interests with. But more reasons are that she’s such a positive influence on my life. Without her, I doubt I would be talking to my parents to this day. She helped me with that. We also share relationship goals, and both of us are asexual. But the biggest reason as to why I want to marry her is because I’m in love with her. I want her by my side forever, that I’m sure of.” 

Both Torbjørn and Anette smiled at Ross. “You have my blessing to marry her, Ross. Seeing her with you in her life has brought her much joy. I know you will take good care of her; you’ve already proven that,” Torbjørn said, giving Ross a warm look. 

“Do you have a ring already?” Anette asked. 

“Oh, um, no, I don’t. I’ll get one when I’m back in Bristol and propose then,” Ross confessed. 

Anette gave a huff and then started to walk off towards hers and Torbjørn’s bedroom, muttering something in Norwegian. Ross was shocked. He hadn’t expected her to react in the way she did. Anette came back a minute later, carrying a small box. 

“Nonsense. You should propose to her now. Love shouldn’t have to wait. Besides. I know our Ellie would love it if you proposed to her in her home country. You should borrow our car and take her out on a trip up the fjords to a great little place and propose there,” Anette explained. 

After she was done talking, Anette opened the little box to reveal a golden ring with small diamonds and sapphires in it. Ross’ mouth opened in awe at the sight of the ring, carefully accepting it from Anette. 

“This is my family’s old engagement ring. It's been passed through the family for generations. I’d like you to have it for your proposal to Ellie,” Anette told Ross. 

Ross just stood stunned for a minute. “Thank you so much. I have no words to explain how much this means to me,” Ross finally managed to say, feeling his eyes start to water with happiness. 

“What’s going on? Are you guys having secret conversations without me?” Ellie’s voice sounded from the hallway, the front door closing behind her. 

Quickly Ross closed the little box with the ring in it and hid it behind his back. Secretly, Ross slipped the box out of his hands and down into his jeans pocket. 

“We were just talking about great places to visit in the area,” Ross said, not lying, just omitting some of the facts. 

Ellie narrowed her eyes at him, but didn’t question him further. “Right. Well Ross, do you want to come upstairs with me? I picked up a little Norway souvenir for you whilst I was out with my friend.” 

“Sure,” Ross said as he followed Ellie to the bedroom. Turning back to look at Ellie’s parents one last time before entering the room, they just gave him a knowing wink. 

*** 

“So, where are we going?” Ellie asked Ross. It was only the two of them in the car. Torbjørn had lent it to Ross and given him instructions on where to drive. Initially the plan had been that all five of them would go out somewhere together, but after Ross and Ellie’s parents had planned the engagement, Torbjørn, Anette, and Jensen decided to stay at home to give Ellie and Ross some space. 

“It’s a surprise,” Ross said as neutrally as he could, hiding his excitement. 

“So mysterious,” Ellie said, leaning back into the passenger seat and enjoying the ride. 

It had taken Ross a little while to get the hang of driving on the wrong side of the road, but once he did, it had all gone smoothly. He pulled the car out onto the road that twisted around the fjords. After about ten minutes of driving up the mountain, the road ended in a small parking lot. 

Pulling the key out of the ignition, Ross and Ellie stepped out of the car. A light breeze pulled their hair out of place. Ross grabbed his rucksack out of the boot before locking the car. Grasping Ellie’s hand in his, the two started the last bit of the climb up the mountain on foot. Luckily it wasn’t that far, so Ellie could manage it. Torbjørn had helped Ross find the perfect place that was high up, overlooking the fjord, but still easy to get to. 

After a few minutes of walking, the pair reached a clearing. It was so high up, they were almost in the clouds. Down below them they could see the bay of water the road they had taken snaked around. 

Ellie went ahead of Ross to go and take in the sight. “I absolutely love this place. Me and my family used to come here when I was younger.” 

“It’s truly stunning,” Ross agreed, taking advantage of the distraction to open the small compartment in his rucksack and pull out the little blue, velvet box containing the ring. Bending down on one knee, Ross opened the box. 

“Ellie,” Ross said, getting Ellie’s attention. Ellie turned around. Realizing what Ross was about to do, she gasped, putting a hand over her mouth. 

“I love you so much. You make me a better person for every day that I know you. I can’t think of a better person to spend my life with, so, will you do me the honours of marrying me?” 

Ellie removed the hand from her mouth, revealing a massive smile. “I thought you said we shouldn’t be moving things too quickly.” 

“Is that a no then?” Ross asked feeling worried. 

Ellie shook her head, moving closer to Ross. “Absolutely not. I want to marry you too. I love you so much.” 

Ross carefully slid the ring onto Ellie’s finger. “Life with you will always be cosy.”


End file.
